Most all time records require a 20 year career. Single season marks usually require a full season. Every now and then, though, a player comes along who shatters those expectations. Randall Cunningham was one of them.
One of the most electric quarterbacks to ever play the position, Cunningham was a true dual threat who carved out a long and successful NFL career. He also set a record that may never be broken, and he did it in a season in which he started only five games. It is a record Cunningham would probably rather forget, but it perfectly captures the type of player he was. When he was on the field, things happened, whether he wanted them to or not.
The 1986 Philadelphia Eagles are infamous for one thing: they allowed sacks at a historic rate. They gave up 104 sacks, still an NFL record, and allowed more sack yardage than any team in league history by a margin of nearly 300 yards. Quarterbacks behind that offensive line took a beating on a weekly basis.
This is not a story about the entire Eagles team. It is not even about their primary starter that year. It is not about how the offensive line struggled, or how Buddy Ryan navigated those issues. This is the story of a young backup quarterback thrown into the worst possible situation and asked to survive. This is the story of how a second year player set the all time record for yards lost to sacks despite starting less than a third of the season. This is the story of Randall Cunningham and his descent into quarterback hell.
How Bad Was That Offensive Line?
To understand how bad the Eagles offensive line was in 1986, you only need one example. In a game against Washington, after a series of penalties, the Eagles found themselves punting on second down. Yes, second down. The punt was then blocked by one of their own linemen and traveled just 15 yards. During that same series, the Eagles used two different quarterbacks. Buddy Ryan had begun deploying Cunningham in situational packages, often on third downs, to spell starter Ron Jaworski and inject some explosiveness into the offense.
Jaworski was taking his share of hits, but the limited action Cunningham saw early in the year gave a preview of what was coming. In the season opener, Cunningham was sacked twice on just three pass attempts. A few weeks later, he was sacked three times on only three attempts. The next week, he was sacked twice without even recording a pass attempt. The pattern was clear: the more he was on the field, the more punishment he took.
It escalated quickly. In a game against the division rival Cowboys, Cunningham attempted 15 passes and was sacked seven times in a 17-14 loss. By the start of Week 10, he had attempted just 38 passes but had already been sacked 24 times for 185 yards. And he had not even started a game yet.
Thrown Into the Fire
Midway through a Week 10 matchup with the Giants, Ron Jaworski finally broke down. After taking 22 sacks on the season, including four that day from Lawrence Taylor and company, he injured his finger and could not continue. Cunningham stepped in and was sacked three more times, bringing his season total to 27. That was just the beginning.
Cunningham made his first start in Week 11 against Detroit. He was sacked ten times. The following week against Seattle, he was sacked nine more times. Nineteen sacks in his first two starts.
The next week, in an overtime game against the Raiders, he experienced the worst outing of his career. Cunningham dropped back 39 times and was sacked 11 times. He spent much of the game on the turf and is still tied for the second most sacks taken in a single game in NFL history because of it.
There was no relief coming. The following week, he was sacked ten times again by the Rams, losing 95 yards in a game that ended in a tie. Over his first four starts, Cunningham was sacked 40 times for 247 yards. Forty sacks in four games feels less like football and more like survival.
It would have been easy to shut it down. Few would have blamed him for stepping aside or protecting himself. Instead, Cunningham kept going out there every week.
In the season finale, he finally got a slight break, going down “only” five times, which had to feel like a relief compared to the previous month. For the season, Cunningham was sacked 72 times on just 209 pass attempts, roughly once every three dropbacks.
His 72 sacks stood as the NFL record until David Carr was sacked 76 times in 2002. But Cunningham’s 489 yards lost to sacks remains the all time record, still 65 yards more than Carr’s infamous season.
Surviving It and What Came Next
Cunningham hit the ground 72 times that year and somehow came out the other side with his confidence intact. For many quarterbacks, a season like that would have ended a career or permanently altered how they played. Cunningham instead bounced back and thrived.
Over the next four seasons, he led the Eagles to three double digit win campaigns, earned three Pro Bowl selections, and finished second in MVP voting twice. The punishment he took in 1986 did not define him. It hardened him.
So the next time you think you have taken a big hit, think about Randall Cunningham. Pull yourself off the ground, jog back into the huddle, and stand there without fear, ready to make the next play, even if you know Lawrence Taylor is coming again.
If that is not a story about resilience, nothing is.
If this was your kind of read, you’ll like what’s next. Get The Sandman Ticket, our free, weekly newsletter with picks, insights, and a little bit of everything we love about sports.
