Although the Reagan Administration has publicly rejected the Soviet Union’s proposal for a moratorium on nuclear testing, some Administration officials say they still see the Soviet move as a potentially positive development. In a December 5 letter to President Reagan, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, proposed that the United States join Moscow’s current unilateral moratorium on the underground testing of nuclear weapons, the only tests now permitted. He said that under the moratorium, observers could visit each side’s territory to investigate “ambiguous phenomena” and resolve “possible doubts” about compliance. Mr. Gorbachev also proposed resuming talks with the United States and Britain on a comprehensive ban on underground nuclear tests. Negotiations on such an agreement were carried out during the Carter Administration, but the Reagan Administration has not sought to resume them.
The Soviet press agency Tass said today that a United States Presidential report accusing the Soviet Union of violating arms control treaties was “a propaganda fraud” filled with “hackneyed inventions.” The press agency, in a signed commentary, said the report submitted to Congress was designed to “discredit the Soviet Union in the eyes of the world public and at the same time justify the large-scale military preparations by the United States.” The Presidential report reaffirmed earlier charges by the Reagan Administration that there “is a pattern of Soviet noncompliance” with arms control agreements. The commentary described the report as an effort, in part, to distract public attention from Washington’s refusal to join a Soviet moratorium on underground nuclear tests.
Western diplomats say there are indications of divisions in the Soviet leadership on foreign and domestic policies. The signs suggest that Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s power as Soviet leader, although considerable and steadily growing, is not absolute, the diplomats say. Although the diplomats, representing several Western nations, say they have arrived at similar conclusions independently, they caution that the evidence is fragmentary and subject to differing interpretations. Fundamental policy debates within the leadership are usually shrouded in secrecy. High officials who would be aware of any policy differences are unlikely to discuss them in public, and the views attributed to individual members of the ruling Politburo are often speculative. Western diplomats try to assess trends through study of public speeches and other open information.
Soviet dissident Yelena Bonner does not believe that her public remarks at a synagogue in Newton, Massachusetts, violated her pledge to Soviet authorities not to talk to reporters while she is in the West for medical treatment, her daughter, Tatiana Yankelevich, said. Bonner’s remarks at the synagogue were widely reported by the media. But Yankelevich noted that Bonner directed her comments to the worshipers, not the press, and added, “The purpose of her visit is not to make public appearances.”
Firemen contained a huge blaze in Naples that swept through one of Italy’s largest oil storage depots after an explosion killed four people and injured more than 160. The explosion occurred as the tanker Agip Gela was unloading 10,000 gallons of gasoline. A spokesman said that an investigation will begin soon, and local authorities said sabotage has been ruled out. The tanker has been impounded pending the investigation.
A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in southern Poland, killing 17 miners and injuring eight, the official news agency PAP said. Another worker was reported missing in the blast at the Welbrzych mine, near Katowice, the news agency said. The explosion, reportedly caused by methane gas, occurred at a depth of almost 600 feet, where 26 miners were doing machinery maintenance, PAP said. Authorities declared today a mourning day for all Welbrzych province, and a special commission was formed to investigate the cause of the accident, PAP said.
The presidents of Romania and Bulgaria called on Balkan countries to unite in efforts to turn their region into a zone free of chemical weapons. This “would be a big step toward freeing the whole of Europe from a highly dangerous class of weapons,” said a joint statement by Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu and Bulgaria’s Todor Zhivkov. The statement was issued in Bucharest after a two-day visit by the Bulgarian leader.
Britain appealed today for kidnappers to release Alec Collett, a British journalist held in Lebanon, but said it would not make a deal for his freedom. Timothy Renton, a minister of state at the Foreign Office, said the release of Mr. Collett, who has been held since March 25, would do more to advance the Palestinian cause “than anything else.” In a 10-minute videotaped message released Saturday, Mr. Collett, 63 years old, appealed to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to free Arab prisoners held in Britain so his Moslem kidnappers would free him.
Gunners of the South Lebanon Army, a mainly Christian militia backed by Israel, today shelled Yater and Kafra, two Shiite Muslim villages in southern Lebanon, killing five civilians and wounding eight, the police reported. In Beirut, the police reported one person killed and four wounded in exchanges of mortar and grenade fire between Muslim and Christian militias.
Libya today dismissed American protests over its reported acquisition of Soviet SAM-5 long-range antiaircraft missiles and accused the United States of creating an “atmosphere of terror.” The official Libyan press agency said the American reaction to reports that the Soviet Union was installing the missiles demonstrated “this tyrant approach in her policy.” The agency quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as describing the missiles’ purpose as “the defense of the Gulf of Sidra and Libyan internal territorial waters.” Libya’s claim to the gulf is disputed by the United States. In 1981, United States Navy F-14 fighters shot down two Libyan warplanes over the gulf.
The military government of Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq arrested 32 political leaders and activists to ensure order before the lifting of martial law, opposition leaders said. Zia’s regime has said it is committed to end martial law before January 1, but no specific date has been announced. Martial law has been in effect for eight years. The arrests, all in Lahore, came two days before the 11-party opposition alliance known as the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy planned to hold a rally there on the birthday of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Prafulla Mahanta, a graduate law student, was elected by his party to lead a new Assam state government in India, dedicated to expelling more than 1 million Bangladeshi immigrants. Mahanta, 32, who headed a bloody, six-year student-led campaign against the immigrants, was named chief minister by all 64 victorious candidates of the Assam People’s Council. The new party decisively defeated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s ruling Congress-I party in a bitterly contested election last week.
A power struggle within the major non-Communist guerrilla group fighting the Vietnamese in Cambodia has burst into the open in the last few days, threatening to weaken the guerrilla cause, diplomats say, just as Hanoi is preparing its annual dry-season offensive against them. An urgent meeting called for Monday will try to heal the deep rift in the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, according to officials of the group. At stake is the leadership of Son Sann, the former Cambodian Prime Minister who as President of the front has attracted support for the guerrillas in the United States and other nations. Congress recently allocated $5 million for the front and a smaller anti-Vietnamese organization led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk. They belong to a coalition that also includes the Communist Khmer Rouge, the most powerful of the three groups.
Between 200 and 300 ethnic minority students from China’s Xinjiang region demonstrated in Peking’s Tian An Men Square against nuclear testing in their region, authorities in the capital said. The demonstrators are students at the Central College of Nationalities, a Peking institute serving members of China’s 55 ethnic minorities. The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, a desert area in central Asia, contains the 40,000-square-mile Lop Nor test site, where China exploded its first atomic bomb in 1964.
A big drop in China’s grain harvest from last year was reported in Peking. The Government said the 1985 harvest would probably be about 53 million tons lower than the record 1984 crop of 407 million tons. It was largest one-year crop decline since the Communists took power in 1949, but there is no food shortage.
Tens of thousands of villagers lined country roads and gathered in town squares today as Corazon C. Aquino brought her presidential campaign to Negros Island, a sugar-producing area in the southern Philippines. Mrs. Aquino, who is seeking to defeat President Ferdinand E. Marcos at the polls on February 7, traveled in a motorcade to Escalante, where 21 protesting farmers were killed by security forces in September. Once there, she told a rally of farmers and townspeople that “like you, I am a victim of the Marcos regime.” Some 3,000 people gathered in the city’s town square to hear Mrs. Aquino. Looming over the scene was the watchtower from which, according to a Government investigation, police and pro-Marcos irregulars had machine-gunned the farmers, who had gathered on September 20 to protest the collapse of the sugar industry. Mrs. Aquino sounded the themes of her candidacy — sincerity, simplicity, honesty and accountability — and dwelled on the memory of her husband, Benigno S. Aquino Jr., a popular leader and rival of Mr. Marcos who was killed in 1983 as he returned from three years of self-imposed exile in the United States. “When I saw him in his coffin with his bloodstained shirt, I promised him I would continue the struggle for justice,” she said. The crowd cheered and shouted her nickname: “Cory! Cory!”
Ways to restore Peru’s economy are being pursued by the United States, despite its distress over the new nationalist rhetoric and radical economic policies of the five-month-old Government of President Alan Garcia Perez, a Social Democrat. Washington seems anxious to avoid an open clash with his government, local and foreign officials in Lima said. “The two sides are gradually learning to live with each other,” said a Peruvian official who favors close ties with the United States. “They are not natural allies, but they have common interests. And the good thing is that Washington has not overreacted.”
Liberia’s Foreign Minister declared this week that any move to link United States military aid to Liberian political guarantees would be an “unethical” intrusion into this country’s affairs. The Foreign Minister, Ernest Eastman, castigated United States Senators who have threatened to reduce military aid unless Liberia agrees to hold new elections, to release political prisoners and to guarantee due process for detained civilians. Mr. Eastman said in an interview here that such a move would threaten Liberia’s sovereignty. “We are no 51st state of America,” Mr. Eastman said. “We are a sovereign nation. For Congress to pass a resolution to cut aid would be unkind and uncomplimentary.”
Winnie Mandela was arrested by the South African police after she defied a ban imposed Saturday forbidding her to enter Soweto, the huge segregated black township near Johannesburg. The order for her exclusion from Soweto relaxed previous restrictions on her activities in force since 1977, which exiled her to the remote town of Brandfort. Mrs. Mandela, the black activist and wife of an imprisoned leader of the African National Congress, had been forced out of Soweto by the police on Saturday but slipped back into the huge, segregated township overnight, family friends said. She was arrested by white plainclothes security policemen armed with pistols. Her lawyers said he had been taken to detention in Krugersdorp, which is southwest of Johannesburg.
The NASA STS-51-L launch vehicle with the space shuttle orbiter Challenger moves to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. Challenger was rolled to the Kennedy Space Center launch complex 39B two miles from where the Columbia is poised for a mission, the first time a pair of space shuttles have been on the launch pads at the same time. Columbia is on Pad 39A, grounded there because of a faulty power unit that aborted before liftoff Thursday. It has been rescheduled for January 4, with Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) in the seven-man crew. Challenger is set to blast off January 22, with the first space teacher, Christa McAuliffe of Concord, New Hampshire, aboard.
The Challenger mission will be delayed to the morning of January 28, 1986.
37 days to launch.
President Reagan returns to the White House from the weekend at Camp David.
The farm bill now on President Reagan’s desk, the costliest in history, is an expensive gamble that America’s agricultural troubles can be cured with lower prices and bigger Government paychecks, its defenders and its critics say. It is a gamble, they say, that price reductions for American commodities can stimulate enough foreign buying to reduce burdensome surpluses and provide something closer to full use of the American agricultural establishment — the 2.3 million farms, their suppliers, the railroads that move their produce and the mills and shippers that process and sell it. Even the projected costs of $52 billion over the first three years of the five-year measure are, like those of farm legislation of past years, far from a certainty, many say. For example, current farm programs, which were enacted in 1981, wound up costing five times as much as their authors had expected. Some economists believe the cost has been underestimated for the new measure because, they say, far more farmers are likely to apply for benefits than now participate in Federal farm programs. Although the estimated costs are higher than under the original farm proposal Mr. Reagan made in February, Administration officials have said that the President would sign the bill early this week.
In the holiday euphoria enveloping the White House, President Reagan’s triumph last week in salvaging a tax overhaul plan was an especially happy gift from Congress. But White House aides say that with the focus of the new year shifting to preparation of a budget plan to cut the deficit, Mr. Reagan and his staff confront wrenching and far-reaching choices. What lends urgency and uncertainty to the Congressional bill that mandates a balanced Federal budget by 1991, White House officials concede, is that the Administration has not yet shaped a coherent strategy to deal with it. Some key aides are privately ambivalent about it and strategists are concerned about Mr. Reagan’s eventual commitment to it.
The employer of a deliveryman accused of trying to sell documents to the Soviet Union appears to have violated Government rules requiring the thorough destruction of classified material, according to Steven Garfinkel, head of the Information Security Oversight Office. He said procedures attributed to the Acme Reporting Company of Washington did not comply with a federal directive concerning document disposal. It requires companies and Government agencies to shred or burn unneeded classified material or turn it into pulp. Mr. Garfinkel’s assessment was based on testimony by an F.B.I. agent, Michael Giglia, at a court hearing Saturday. Mr. Giglia said an Acme official had told him that the company “maintains copies of top secret and secret documents in its safe. These documents are disposed of by ripping them by hand and placing them in the trash.”
An official of the House Armed Services Committee said the panel will re-evaluate hiring practices after the arrest of a print shop worker accused of trying to sell classified committee documents to the Soviets. Randy Miles Jeffries, an employee of the Acme Reporting Co. — which does stenographic services for the House of Representatives, sometimes working with top-secret documents — was arrested Friday night by the FBI. Jeffries, 26, is scheduled for formal arraignment today in U.S. District Court.
Public power agencies are to be sold to private operators if Congress approves a proposal in President Reagan’s budget for the fiscal year 1987. The Administration would put up for sale the Bonneville Power Administration and three similar agencies that provide electric power to millions of people in the West, Southwest and Southeast. The officials said the proposals were part of Mr. Reagan’s effort to sell Federal assets and to transfer programs to private industry.
An influx of Central American aliens has followed increasing efforts of religious groups to designate American cities as sanctuaries for them, according to Federal officials. Sacramento, California, last week became the 12th city to declare itself a sanctuary. San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is to consider a similar declaration Monday. The sanctuary designations usually call on the police and other city employees to decline to aid Federal immigration agents or otherwise interfere in the lives of illegal aliens from strife-torn El Salvador and Guatemala.
Three inmates who escaped Thursday from a South Carolina prison via helicopter with the help of a woman, stole a car at gunpoint, bragged about their breakout and vowed they would not be taken alive, authorities said. The four, including a convicted murderer, were last seen early in the morning at a motel in Mobile, Alabama, by a motorist whose car they commandeered, FBI agent Steve Tidwell said. The motorist, who was unharmed, told authorities that the fugitives bragged of their escape and said they would not be taken alive, Tidwell said. “We still consider them armed and dangerous,” he said.
A black bear apparently killed itself with an overdose of cocaine after discovering a batch of the drug believed to have been dropped by parachuting smuggler Andrew Thornton, authorities said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a torn duffel bag and traces of cocaine were found in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and a dead 175-pound black bear was found among the ripped-open packages. Agent Gary Garner said the cocaine was believed to have been dropped in September from a plane piloted by Thornton, who jumped to his death with a faulty parachute.
A 10-year-old boy who spent two hours beneath the icy waters of a lake died despite a day of feverish efforts by doctors who said they had not given up hope despite the long odds for his survival. Jeffrey Goodale died about 36 hours after he had fallen through lake ice, said Martin Bander, a spokesman for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Jeffrey slipped through the ice about 11 AM Saturday when he ran after his dog onto the partially frozen lake on Martha’s Vineyard.
The Guardian Angels held a vigil in New York City and passed out flyers in support of subway gunman Bernhard H. Goetz on the first anniversary of the day he shot four youths he thought were going to rob him. Goetz said he had no special plans to commemorate the shootings. “How can I top this?” he laughed. “You want an encore?…. Last year I gave the country a Christmas present.”
The first woman artificial heart patient appears to have suffered no significant neurological damage from her mysterious heart virus or her transplant operation, doctors said. Mary Lund, 40, of Kensington, Minnesota, remained in stable but critical condition, said a spokesman for Abbott Northwestern Hospitals in Minneapolis. A diagnostic computerized test, or CT scan, of Lund’s head was ordered because of concern that she was not responding quickly enough to the implant surgery.
The AIDS epidemic has transformed Bellevue Hospital Center in New York to such an extent that the fatal disorder of the immune system is now the municipal hospital’s single most common medical diagnosis. Although the fear of contagion that initially gripped the hospital has abated in recent months, Bellevue still faces the grim reality of treating a disorder it cannot cure and accommodating itself to large numbers of deaths it cannot prevent. While soaring costs are a major concern, the numbing realization that nothing can be done to prevent the fatal course of AIDS is inflicting mounting emotional casualties on Bellevue’s medical and nursing staff. Moreover, the prospect of treating twice as many AIDS patients next year is having a devastating impact on doctors and nurses who can barely cope with current caseloads. “The cost is staggering, the grief is overwhelming, and there is no end in sight,” said Dr. Fred Valentine, a Bellevue physician.
Public access to tests for AIDS will be sharply increased by New York City in a major policy change. The city is permitting local hospitals to give the blood tests for the AIDS virus, relaxing what has been regarded as the country’s most restrictive policy on the controversial procedure. The city had allowed the test to be made only by a city laboratory on referral from personal physicians. That discouraged people from taking the test, doctors said.
A Federal district judge who dismissed a discrimination case against the city of Birmingham says the city did not discriminate against white firefighters when it promoted blacks the complainants said were less qualified than white candidates. The judge said the promotions were protected by a 1981 court decree that called for preferential employment of minorities. “The consent decree can be a valid defense even if the city acted in a racially conscious manner,” Judge Sam Pointer Jr. said in dismissing the case Friday.
A 70-foot-wide sinkhole continued growing today after swallowing a house and carport and forcing evacuation of four homes in Keystone Heights, Florida, officials said. The hole was about the size of a pickup truck when it was discovered Saturday in this small retirement community in northeastern Florida. “It’s still falling in, but gradual, not big hunks of stuff,” said James Corbin Jr., Clay County Director of Public Safety. Sinkholes are created when water-filled limestone caverns lose water pressure that supports their roofs.
“Wind in the Willows” closes at Nederlander Theater NYC after 4 performances.
74th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Germany in Munich (3-2).
NFL Football:
The Chiefs edged the Chargers, 38–34. Even the Charger secondary shook hands with Stephone Paige, who had 309 yards on eight receptions to break the league record of 303 yards set in 1945 by Jim Benton of the Cleveland Rams. Paige got started with a 56-yard touchdown pass down the middle from Todd Blackledge. In the second quarter, he teamed with Bill Kenney for an 84-yard touchdown pass play. Paige had 258 yards receiving in the first half on receptions covering 56, 51, 30, 17, 84, and 20 yards. He caught a 39-yard pass from Kenney in the third quarter. He broke the record with his shortest reception of the game, a 12-yarder. San Diego’s Lionel James set a league record for all-purpose yardage. He had 242 yards running, receiving and kick returning for total of 2,535 yards, surpassing 2,462 by Terry Metcalf of the Cardinals in 1975. The Chiefs’ Albert Lewis, who had been tied for the league lead with seven interceptions, picked off his eighth late in the third period.
The Falcons topped the Buccaneers, 20–17. Phillip Epps scored on a 30-yard flanker reverse in the first quarter and Jessie Clark ran 6 yards for a fourth quarter touchdown for Green Bay. The Buccaneers (2–14) earned the first overall pick in the college draft next spring. Tampa Bay’s bid to force overtime failed when Donald Igwebuike’s 48-yard field-goal attempt went wide right with 2:58 left. Phillip Epps scored on a 30-yard flanker reverse in the first quarter and Jessie Clark ran six yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown to give Green Bay the victory before a crowd of 33,992. Clark’s touchdown with 7:03 remaining capped a 13-play, 73-yard drive that backup quarterback Randy Wright engineered after Tampa Bay took a 17-13 lead on Steve Young’s three-yard scoring pass to Jimmie Giles with 13:16 to go.
Dan Marino threw two touchdown passes to Bruce Hardy today as the Dolphins routed the Buffalo Bills, 28–0, to win the American Conference Eastern Division title. Marino hit Hardy on first-half touchdown passes of 19 and 5 yards. Tony Nathan ran 1 yard for a score and Ron Davenport rambled 13 yards for the final touchdown in the fourth period before a crowd of 64,811 in the Orange Bowl. The Dolphins finished the regular season with seven straight victories for a 12–4 record, one game better than their division rivals, the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. The Dolphins have won or shared the A.F.C. East title 12 of the last 16 years. The Bills contributed to their demise today, getting flagged for 19 penalties for 123 yards and twice failing to score from inside the Miami 5-yard line. Buffalo, which suffered three interceptions and lost three fumbles, set up two Miami scores with turnovers. Late in the first half, the Dolphins stopped the Bills’ running back Joe Cribbs on fourth-and-1 at the 2-yard line. And in the third period, the defensive back William Judson intercepted a pass by the Bills’ Bruce Mathison at the 1-yard line to stop the only other Buffalo threat. The 5-yard pass to Hardy came three plays after an interception by the Miami linebacker Jackie Shipp. And Nathan’s touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery by Bill Barnett at Buffalo’s 26-yard line.
The Falcons beat the Saints, 16–10. Gerald Riggs of the Falcons rushed for 157 yards to take the league lead in yardage. Riggs has 1,718 yards and an 82-yard lead over Marcus Allen of the Raiders, who play the Rams on Monday night. The game was played before a crowd of 37,717, the second-smallest in the history of the franchise. Only when the team was at 0–12 en route to a 1–15 season in 1980 was there a smaller attendance — 30,396 to watch the Saints (5–11) play Minnesota. On the second New Orleans play from scrimmage, Earl Campbell broke over the right side at the New Orleans 48 and appeared headed for a touchdown when Wendell Cason caught up to him at the 13, kept stride with him and then punched the ball from Campbell through the end zone for a touchback. Atlanta then marched to a field goal and never trailed.
Craig James rushed for a career-high 142 yards and tiptoed along the sideline for an 11-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown, as the New England Patriots captured an American Conference wild-card playoff berth today with a 34–23 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. The Patriots (11–5) earned the playoff spot as they tied a club record for victories in a season. Cincinnati finished at 7–9. New England will visit the Jets next Saturday in the A.F.C. wild-card game. After James’s touchdown put New England ahead, 27–16, with 8 minutes 13 seconds left in the game, Cincinnati’s Boomer Esiason threw his second touchdown pass, an 8-yarder to Cris Collinsworth, with 5:43 to go. But New England, which never trailed, marched right back and scored with 1:52 remaining on a 42-yard burst by Robert Weathers on a fourth down and 1. The Patriots appeared in control with a 20–6 halftime lead, but the Bengals quickly got closer. Esiason threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Brown on the fifth play of the third quarter and Jim Breech kicked his third field goal, a 30-yarder with 11:17 left in the game, to make the score 20–16. Tony Eason, who had thrown a 50-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan in the first quarter, hooked up with him for a 48-yard completion on the second play after the kickoff to bring the ball to the Cincinnati 17-yard line. James, the A.F.C.’s third-ranked rusher going into the game, ran twice for 6 yards, then took a lateral from Eason, cut up the right side and barely stayed inbounds as he went into the end zone.
The Eagles squeaked by the Vikings, 37–35. Marion Campbell, dismissed as the Eagles’ coach last Monday, was given a game ball in absentia by his former players. Fred Bruney, the interim coach, was also presented a game ball after the Eagles won on Paul McFadden’s third field goal, a 35-yarder, with 40 seconds to play. “Marion Campbell, we all loved; he was a player’s coach.” said the safety Wes Hopkins, one of several Eagles wearing ankle tape inscribed with “Fox” and “78” for Campbell’s nickname and former number. Earnest Jackson carried 25 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns, making him only the third Eagle to exceed 1,000 yards rushing. He finished with 1,028 to join Steve Van Buren and Wilbert Montgomery. The Viking rookie Buster Rhymes set the league single-season record for kickoff-return yardage with five returns for 162 yards, giving him 1,345 yards to surpass 1,317 by Bobby Jancik of the Oilers in 1963. The game was the last for 43-year-old Jan Stenerud, the Viking placekicker who played 19 seasons. He did not try a field goal and made all five extra-point attempts, giving him 1,699 career points.
Coach Mike Ditka was annoyed today even though his Chicago Bears romped to a 37–17 triumph over the Detroit Lions, equaling the National Football League record with 15 victories in 16 games. Ditka was critical because the offense generated only one of Chicago’s four touchdowns. “We would not have beaten a playoff team the way we played today,” Ditka said. “We didn’t play well anywhere. It took us until the fourth quarter for us to outscore our defensive and special teams. It was lousy execution. Maybe we were doing too many Super Bowl Shuffles.” The reference was to the music videotape recently recorded by some Bears. With the Bears only leading by 6–3, Dennis Gentry’s 94-yard return for a touchdown with the second-half kickoff spurred the Bears as they tied the 15–1 record set last season by the 49ers. The Bears’ Walter Payton became the first player in N.F.L. history to go over 2,000 total yards in three consecutive seasons. Against the Lions, Payton rushed for 81 yards on 17 carries, caught 4 passes for 55 yards. He also tossed a 50-yard pass. Payton finished the season with 2,034 yards. Jim McMahon scrambled 14 yards for a touchdown at 1 minute 16 seconds of the fourth quarter, and the linebacker Don Rivera took a fumble 5 yards for a score 28 seconds later to give Chicago a 30–10 lead. A 59-yard fumble return by William (The Refrigerator) Perry set up the Bears’ final touchdown, an 11-yard toss from McMahon to Ken Margerum with 2:00 remaining.
The Jets chased the ghosts of collapses past, who started to hover over the winter sky today when it looked as if the playoffs might slip away. Instead, the Jets rebounded after a faltering start in which they trailed early and played poorly. They grew in confidence against the Cleveland Browns and finally produced a 37–10 victory that propelled them into the playoffs as a wild-card team on the final Sunday of the regular season. When the Jets are hosts to the New England Patriots next Saturday at 4 PM, it will mark only the fifth playoff appearance in the club’s 26-season history. It will be part of an all-New York wild-card weekend, because on Sunday the Giants will play here at 1 PM This is only the second time that both New York teams have made the playoffs the same year. Cleveland entered the game knowing it had clinched the Central Division title. The Browns, at 8–8, are the first .500 division winner. The Jets, whose 11–5 record marked their most victories since the 1968 Super Bowl team, which was 11–3, would not have made the playoffs if they had lost. For the Patriots also won to capture the other conference wild-card berth, and the Dolphins won to capture the division title. If the Jets had lost, the Denver Broncos would have been a wild-card team. Although the Jets took a 17–10 halftime lead today, they did not look good doing it. They were kept alive by a remarkable and almost zany touchdown that was credited as a 39-yard pass completion from Ken O’Brien to Kurt Sohn. Sohn actually retrieved the ball from a defender, Don Rogers, who had apparently intercepted the ball but then bobbled it. Despite the lead, Fields and the other veterans were concerned. But the Jets took the game into their hands by starting the third period with a 36-yard kickoff return by Bobby Humphery, and then a 59-yard march ending with a score by Hector. That drive, lasting more than five minutes, not only lifted the Jets to a 24–10 lead but deflated the Browns. The Jets went on to get two more field goals from Leahy, who wound up the season with 12 consecutively, and a 1-yard score from Tony Paige.
The Colts thumped the Oilers, 34–16. Mike Pagel completed touchdown passes of 14 and 20 yards to tight end Pat Beach and a 22-yard touchdown pass to Oliver Williams. In addition, the Colts got touchdown runs from Randy McMillan and Albert Bentley. Both teams finished 5–11, Indianapolis with a two-game winning streak, its longest in the last two seasons, and Houston with four-game losing string. Houston’s leading rusher was Mike Rozier with 49 yards on 19 carries. Houston’s Warren Moon completed 22 of 40 passes for 364 yards, including 9 for 210 yards and two touchdowns to the wide receiver Drew Hill.
Roger Craig helped the San Francisco 49ers into the playoffs today when he scored on a 4-yard run in a 31–16 comeback victory over the Dallas Cowboys and he made history in the process. By exceeding 1,000 yards in both the rushing and receiving categories, Craig became the first player in the National Football League to do both in the same season. Craig broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the first half on a 13-yard gain, and then he took a 15-yard swing pass from Joe Montana in the third quarter to go over 1,000 yards in reception yardage. The victory was the 49ers’ fourth straight over the Cowboys and improved San Francisco’s record to 10–6. The 49ers will play on the road against the Giants next Sunday in the N.F.C. wild-card game. Dallas, also 10–6, already had won the N.F.C. East title and will play the N.F.C. West champion Los Angeles Rams on the road in two weeks. San Francisco trailed, 16–10, at the half, but cashed in on Dwight Hicks’s interception of a Gary Hogeboom pass in the third quarter. Hicks returned the interceptions 15 yards to the Dallas 44. A 13-yard pass from Montana to Russ Francis moved the ball to the 4, and Craig carried two Cowboys into the end zone on the next play. Ray Wersching’s conversion kick gave San Francisco its first lead of the game, 17–16. The 49ers went ahead, 24–16, on their next possession. Montana hit Craig with passes of 8, 15 and 4 yards to move the ball to the Dallas 15. From there, the rookie wide receiver Jerry Rice took a reverse from the running back Derrick Harmon, faked out the defensive tackle Jim Jeffcoat and raced into the end zone. The San Francisco defense, which held the running back Tony Dorsett in check, came up with a big play to set up the final score. On fourth down and 1. Timmy Newsome attempted to go through the right side, but was thrown for a 10-yard loss. Montana then hit Francis for 13 yards and followed with a 21-yard pass to Rice. On first down at the 24, Montana connected with Dwight Clark for his second touchdown pass of the game.
San Diego Chargers 34, Kansas City Chiefs 38
Green Bay Packers 20, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17
Buffalo Bills 0, Miami Dolphins 28
Atlanta Falcons 16, New Orleans Saints 10
Cincinnati Bengals 23, New England Patriots 34
Philadelphia Eagles 37, Minnesota Vikings 35
Chicago Bears 37, Detroit Lions 17
Cleveland Browns 10, New York Jets 37
Houston Oilers 16, Indianapolis Colts 34
Dallas Cowboys 16, San Francisco 49ers 31
Born:
(Dennes) D. Boon, 27, American punk rock singer and guitarist (The Minutemen), dies in a van accident.
Corey Mace, Canadian NFL defensive tackle (Buffalo Bills), in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada.
Daniel Stange, MLB pitcher (Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels), Orange, California.
History Diaries 