12 Most Valuable 1985 Topps Football Cards

Let's be clear: most of the cards from this set do not have any value these days.

Like the 1984 and 1986 Topps sets that surrounded it, large print runs saturated the market with these cards, driving down their values.

So, for the cards on this list to be worth much, they'll have to be graded by PSA to be in mint (9) or even perfect, gem mint (10) condition.

That means the card needs to be flawless.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the list:

1985 Topps #24 Richard Dent Rookie Card

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $4,500

When talking about the 1985 Chicago Bears defense, you could point to greatness at nearly every position.

It was a crossover sensation that bludgeoned its way through the NFL and into the national consciousness.

On a D full of X-factors, no player was more integral than First-Team All-Pro defensive end Richard Dent.

"It's important to have good games, but it's critical to have really good games in important games," former teammate Gary Fencik said. "Richard always was there. When you needed a sack, who were you looking for on the defense? You were looking for Richard."

Dent had the best season of his Hall of Fame career in 1985, leading the league in sacks (17.0) and forced fumbles (7.0).

He also snagged two of his eight career interceptions during the year, returning one for the only pick-six he'd ever have.

From eighth-rounder to the game's most fearsome quarterback hunter, Dent put dents into everyone.

Yet, somehow, he was more explosive in the playoffs.

The third-year pro posted 3.5 sacks in a 21-0 NFC Divisional Round win over the Giants and forced a game-breaking fumble in the team's 24-0 NFC Championship win over the Rams.

Dent finished the postseason with six sacks in three games and served as a driving force for a defensive unit that allowed just seven rushing yards in an iconic 46-10 Super Bowl XX beatdown of the Patriots.

1985 Topps #33 Walter Payton

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $4,500

Walter Payton "Super Bowl Shuffled" all over the league in 1985.

The legendary Chicago Bears running back was the heart and soul of the era's most dominant team.

A year earlier, "Sweetness" ran away with Jim Brown's career rushing yards record.

Now, at 31 years old, Payton's trademark mix of grace and power was never more potent.

Payton rushed for 100 yards or more in an NFL-record nine consecutive games, ending the regular season with the fourth-highest yardage total of his Hall-of-Fame career (1,551).

He rushed for 4.8 yards per carry, tallied double-digit rushing/receiving touchdowns for the sixth time (11), and was just one of three players to cross 2,000 yards from scrimmage (2,034) on the season.

The veteran superstar narrowly missed out on a second NFL MVP, finishing runner-up to Raiders RB Marcus Allen by a 33-25 vote count.

However, the First-Team All-Pro got the leg up in the end.

Chicago's generation-defining 46 Defense broke the postseason, allowing just 10 points in the Bears' juggernaut march to a Super Bowl title.

Payton was bottled up in three postseason games, rushing for just 2.8 yards per carry with no touchdowns.

It mattered very little. "Sweetness" had his ring.

1985 Topps #251 Warren Moon Rookie Card

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $2,500

You can't succeed when you're eating hits at the rate Warren Moon did in 1985.

One of the greatest undrafted players in NFL history, the Houston Oilers' quarterback was in legitimate danger of getting snuffed out in his second pro season.

Moon suffered the two highest sack totals of his 17-year career in years one and two, going down 47 and 46 times, respectively.

The low point came on September 29th, 1985.

The Dallas Cowboys defense preyed on Moon all day, walking through a revolving-door Oilers O-line at will.

Moon was sacked an NFL-record 12 times on the day in a painful 17-10 loss.

"Their defense takes a lot of chances, and four-fifths of them seemed to pay off today," Houston offensive tackle Harvey Salem said. "Yes, 12 sacks is a nightmare."

The nightmare wasn't just a one-game thing.

Moon had no time to do anything in 1985.

His two options were usually to force a throw or take a hit.

His numbers bore that out.

Moon went 4-10 as a starter in 1985, completing just 53.1% of his passes for 2,709 yards with 15 touchdowns against 19 interceptions.

1985 Topps #238 John Elway

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $2,250

1985 was the year that John Elway officially became "Mr. Comeback."

Without much of a running game, the third-year Denver Broncos quarterback was the end-all, be-all.

Elway attempted an NFL-high 605 passes on the year, connecting on 54% of them for 3,891 yards and 22 touchdowns.

He passed on first, second, third, and even fourth downs in nearly every yard-to-go situation imaginable.

His career-worst 23 interceptions make plenty of sense in context, considering that opposing secondaries had little reason to guess run.

And those picks were far from killers, considering Elway's emergence as a fourth-quarter superhero.

The 25-year-old Stanford product led Denver to an NFL-best six fourth-quarter comebacks in 1985.

To put that into perspective, no other QB had more than three.

The 11-5 Broncos were the odd team out in a three-way tiebreaker for two AFC Wild Card spots, yet they had very little to complain about.

If Elway hadn't been there to continuously raise them from the dead, their playoff hopes would have been extinguished halfway through the campaign.

1985 Topps #482 Dan Marino

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $2,250

The 1985 season was supposed to bring redemption for the Miami Dolphins.

Instead, it brought heartache.

The defending AFC champions were loaded for bear, looking to right the wrongs of a stomach-churning 38-16 loss to San Francisco in Super Bowl XIX.

And with reigning NFL MVP Dan Marino at the controls, the Fins were an easy favorite to return to the Big Game.

If the end of the regular season was any indication, a Super Bowl redux seemed like a formality.

Miami started an uneven 5-4 before rattling off seven consecutive wins to capture another AFC East title.

Marino was the flag bearer, ending the year with NFL bests in completions (336), passing yards (4,137), and passing touchdowns (30).

His offensive line made him look good, too, posting a league-best sack rate of 3.1%.

And then, the turnovers caught up.

Marino threw a worrisome 21 interceptions in the regular season but most of those came in the first nine games and were forgotten.

Come the AFC Championship Game, there was no looking past them.

After outlasting Cleveland 24-21 in the Divisional Round, the Dolphins committed six turnovers in a 31-14 AFC title game loss to the Wild Card New England Patriots.

Marino fumbled once and threw two picks to seal the Dolphins’ fate in front of a stunned home crowd.

1985 Topps #192 Passing Leaders

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $2,150

During the 1984 NFL season, two quarterbacks stood head and shoulders above the rest.

As the leader of the high-powered San Francisco 49ers offensive attack, Joe Montana threw 432 passes for 3,630 yards and 28 touchdowns against ten interceptions.

His passer rating of 102.9 was over ten points higher than the next NFC quarterback, Neil Lomax, who turned in a 92.5 passer rating during his first Pro Bowl season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

On the AFC side of the coin, 23-year-old phenom Dan Marino was even better with an NFL and career-best 108.9 passer rating during his historical record-setting season.

In addition to leading the league in attempts (564), completions (362), and various other offensive statistics, Marino set a then single-season record for yards (5,084) and touchdown passes (48).

The New England Patriots' Tony Eason had the next-best passer rating in the AFC, with a 93.4 mark.

It was an incredible year for both Montana and Marino.

Topps commemorated their achievements as the best quarterbacks in their respective conferences with this "1984 Passing Leaders" card.

1985 Topps #6 Walter Payton Record Breaker

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $1,750

From 1957 to 1965, Hall of Famer Jim Brown tormented opposing defenses with is incredible rushing skills.

In nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns, Brown averaged more than 100 yards per game seven times and led the NFL in rushing eight times.

Put simply, Brown's performance was otherworldly.

And for nearly twenty years, his record of 12,312 rushing yards stood as the top mark in NFL history.

Enter Walter Payton.

Since breaking into the league in 1975, Payton had also proven himself to be a nightmare for opposing defenses, utilizing speed and agility that made him one of the most elusive backs in history.

And on October 7, 1984, Payton entered a sell-out home game against the New Orleans Saints, standing just 67 yards shy of breaking Brown's all-time mark.

By halftime, Payton was still short and the tension in the crowd at Soldier Field was building rapidly.

Then, during the third quarter, Payton took a pitch from Jim McMahon and scampered to his left for six yards.

The crowd went nuts.

Payton had finally broken the record.

And he just kept going from there, racking up 154 yards on 32 carries that day.

1985 Topps #157 Joe Montana

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $1,700

Joe Montana ruled the league from 1981 to 1984, winning two Super Bowls and two Super Bowl MVPs, erasing eight years of franchise futility to rocket the Niners to heights unseen.

But 1985 was tougher.

Montana looked wary in the pocket early on and struggled to find a rhythm.

San Francisco lost four of its first seven games and sat at 5-5 heading into a Week 11 clash with Kansas City.

Head coach Bill Walsh attributed much of this to a championship hangover.

Montana turned things around just in time, though, and SF won five of its last six to sneak into the postseason field as a 10-6 Wild Card.

"His statistics for the first half of the season were not outstanding," Walsh said during the run. "Now I think he's playing as good as he played last year."

Montana ended the year with an NFL-best 61.3% completion rate and amassed 3,653 passing yards with 27 touchdowns against 13 interceptions.

He finished the regular season on a high yet fell right back into a funk in a 17-3 Wild Card Round loss to the Giants.

The 29-year-old star completed 26 of 47 passes on the day for 296 yards and a pick.

He just didn't have it, which was a jarring sight considering his recent championship resume.

1985 Topps #124 Lawrence Taylor

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $1,000

Lawrence Taylor's 1986 season gets its just desserts as the best single-player defensive performance of the modern era.

Per Pro Football Reference, his 1985 season may have been even better.

The trusted online football database has taken to assigning all players an approximate value for each active season in the NFL.

The higher the number, the better their performance compared to the rest of the league.

And per the site's findings, Taylor was even more remarkable in 1985 than his 20.5-sack season a year later.

PFF gives LT an NFL-best 21 grade for 1985, compared to just 17 for 1986.

Considering he had just 13 sacks, how does this make sense?

Well, Taylor was considerably more valuable to the team's defense in 1985.

Injuries and youth meant more holes to plug, and it was LT who filled them up.

Whether that meant blowing up the run game, scooping up fumbles, or harassing quarterbacks, Taylor made the Giants' second-ranked defense what it was.

In the Divisional Round, the 10-6 Giants were ousted by the eventual Super Bowl champion Bears, 21-0.

Maybe they would have had a better shot if Taylor played quarterback.

After all, he did everything else.

1985 Topps #372 Dan Fouts

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $1,000

The San Diego Chargers were the Jekyll and Hyde of the 1985 football season.

On the offensive side of the ball, they were untouchable.

Led by Second-Team All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowl QB Dan Fouts, the Chargers’ attack finished first in the NFL in scoring, yards, first downs, passing offense, and net yards per passing attempt.

On the defensive side of the ball, they were putrid.

San Diego ended the regular season dead last in yards allowed, first downs allowed, and passing yards allowed.

It all balanced out to an 8-8 finish and one hell of a carry job by Fouts.

The 13-year vet completed 59.1% of his passes for 3,638 yards with 27 touchdowns against 20 interceptions.

He also paced the league in touchdown percentage (6.3%), yards per passing attempt (8.5), and passing yards per game (259.9).

A competent defense would have yielded a playoff berth.

That wasn’t the case, and Fouts had to match scores all season long just to drag the Chargers to a .500 record.

1985 Topps #79 Eric Dickerson

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $800

Eric Dickerson ripped the record books apart in his first two NFL seasons.

The Los Angeles Rams running back set multiple rookie rushing records in 1983 before breaking OJ Simpson's single-season rushing mark in 1984.

He was already the best halfback in the game but wanted his bank account to reflect it.

Thus began an excruciating seven-week holdout that kept Dickerson out of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season.

Then, the 25-year-old halfback picked up where he left off in his season debut, rushing 31 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-24 win over Seattle.

However, his legs couldn't keep up the pace with no camp or preseason behind them.

Dickerson rushed for just 4.2 yards per carry in 1985, compared to 5.6 the year before.

He still amassed 1,234 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground, yet it came while alternating big games and not-so-great ones.

The trend kept going in the playoffs.

Dickerson set a new playoff record with 248 rushing yards against Dallas, hauling the NFC West champs to a 20-0 Divisional Round win.

But in the NFC title game, he was nowhere to be seen.

Chicago's 46 Defense held him to a scant 46 yards on 17 carries in a crushing 24-0 NFC Championship Game loss. 

1985 Topps #34 Mike Singletary

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $600

If there was a star of the star-studded '85 Bears defense, it was Mike Singletary.

Chicago's defense allowed less than 11 points per game during the regular season and just over three points per game in three postseason contests.

Altogether, the Bears gave up a record-low 209 points in nineteen games.

The Bears' D was more than just stifling.

It was harrowing.

And Singletary was its central figure.

Five years into the league, the 27-year-old middle linebacker was the perfect quarterback for one of the greatest defensive units in football history.

He posted just 3.0 sacks in '85 (with a pick and three fumble recoveries), but raw numbers meant nothing compared to his intelligence, influence, and brute strength.

Opposing receivers risked their health and well-being crossing into his airspace.

And when an opposing running back hit the second level, the 1985 NFL Defensive Player of the Year sent them packing.

He hit like a brick wall.

And his leadership qualities had even more of an impact.

"I know that anything that coach Mike Ditka said that needed to be done, I was going to make sure that it got done," Singletary said later. "And if it didn't get done, I was going to be in somebody's face."

1985 Topps #253 Mike Munchak Rookie Card

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $600

The Houston Oilers' offensive line repeatedly failed QB Warren Moon throughout the 1985 season.

But he may not have made it through the year without Mike Munchak in front of him.

Selected eighth overall in the 1982 NFL Draft, Munchak often had to do the work of two or three guys early in his career.

In Moon's first two pro years, he may as well have been the entire offensive line.

Houston's O-line surrendered 107 combined sacks in 1984 and 1985, an outlandish number that put the young QB in harm's way.

When Moon actually got time to throw, Munchak was there to seal off a potential sack.

It was a rough go altogether.

Houston finished 5-11, and Moon looked battered by the campaign's end.

However, it was a galvanizing moment for Moon and Munchak, the core duo of Houston's offense.

The two combined for 16 Pro Bowls together before Munchak's retirement after the 1993 season.

Munchak then joined the organization in 1994 as an offensive assistant before eventually working his way up to the head coaching job for the Tennessee Titans in 2011.

And during that timespan, in 2001, Munchak got the call to Canton to become a Hall of Famer.

1985 Topps #282 Marcus Allen

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $500

During his rookie 1982 season, Marcus Allen raised eyebrows when he rushed for 697 yards and an NFL-best 11 touchdowns during the strike-shortened year.

No one was surprised that he earned Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, second in the Offensive Player of the Year vote, or even third in the MVP vote.

He was that good.

And by the time the regular season kicked off in 1985, Allen had put up a couple of 1,000-yard rushing seasons, earned a Pro Bowl nomination, and helped the Raiders to a Super Bowl victory.

His career was off and rolling in a big way and expectations were sky high in 1985.

So, how did he do?

Well, he had a career year, leading the NFL with 1,759 rushing yards and yards from scrimmage (2,314) while chipping in 11 rushing touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns.

He was simply unstoppable.

MVP honors, an Offensive Player of the Year award, a First-Team All-Pro selection and a Pro Bowl nomination seemed only fitting.

Unfortunately for Raiders fans, Allen's relationship with the team would suffer during the late 1980s.

By 1993, he would head to the division-rival Kansas City Chiefs to re-charge his career.

1985 Topps #31 Jim McMahon

Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $450

On a team full of tough guys, Chicago Bears QB Jim McMahon was as gritty as they came.

But he didn't have to do much in 1985 to guide the Bears to and through the Super Bowl.

That's the benefit of having Walter Payton and a defense that gave up little more than a touchdown per game.

However, the 26-year-old quarterback wasn't content with being a game manager.

He was reckless, prone to giving his body up and sliding head first against his better judgment and the protests of his coaching staff.

McMahon talked smack, stepped up under pressure, took crushing hits, and kept talking.

He'd go on to call himself a "punky QB" during the infamous "Super Bowl Shuffle" recording session, and never has a description ever been so apt.

Prone to injuries both self-inflicted and otherwise, McMahon was always on the injury report somewhere.

He played 13 regular-season games in 1985 (11 starts), completing 56.9% of his passes for 2,392 yards with 15 touchdowns against 11 interceptions.

In the playoffs, McMahon played efficient and mistake-free football.

He completed 39 of 66 passes over three games for 636 yards, three touchdowns, and an impressive 106.6 passer rating.

1985 Topps Football Cards In Review

The 1985 Topps football card set is a great one and has been increasing in popularity over the years.

Hall of Fame rookie cards of Richard Dent, Steve McMichael, Warren Moon and Mike Munchak headline a checklist that's loaded with Hall of Famers in general.

And the black borders make them highly condition-sensitive giving collectors and set builders a nice challenge in hunting down high-grade examples.

The set design is undoubtedly unique and the 396-card checklist packs so much nostalgia inside.

There are also some decent subsets, including:

• Record Breakers (#1 - 6)
• Playoff Highlights (#7 - 9)
• League Leaders (#192 - 197)
• Checklists (#394 - 396)
• Team Leaders (throughout checklist)
• All-Pro (throughout checklist)

If you were a collector or football fan during the 1980s, you'll almost certainly find something in this set to pique your interest.