It looks like the 1972 Dolphins are STILL the Undefeated Team!

[MrCleveland]

Things don't look good for the Packers against the Chiefs, ending their Perfect Season.

So the 1972 Miami Dolphins are STILL The Perfect Team, and The Packers will have to hear this!...

1ytCEuuW2_A

[Brian Damage]

In all honesty, this is probably the best thing to have happen to Green Bay.

[TheCars1986]

In the words of Jeff Spicoli, "Awesome! Totally awesome!"

[EricIdlefan]

My mom remembers the 1972 Dolphins living in Miami at the time. There is also talk that whenever a team with an undefeated record previously loses for the first time, the 1972 team passes out champagne to each other. Even though they deny this every happens.

[MrCleveland]

My mom remembers the 1972 Dolphins living in Miami at the time. There is also talk that whenever a team with an undefeated record previously loses for the first time, the 1972 team passes out champagne to each other. Even though they deny this every happens.

Did the 1972 Dolphins pass out champagne on Super Bowl 42 when The Giants edged-out The Patriots?

[Tweety]

Many players from that team (72 Dolphins) say that the champagne stories are really not true. Who knows?

The guys who were on that team all know how the other guys feel every time the last unbeaten team falls. I'm sure that they all celebrate in their own way.

I saw the team play. It's hard to picture Larry Czonka drinking champagne out of one of those dinky little glasses!

Some trivia about the '72 Dolphins that not a lot of people know or remember:

The Dolphins were 14-0 in the 1972 season.

The AFC East consisted of the Dolphins, Jets, Colts and Patriots.

As is the case today, teams in the same division played each other twice

The AFC East team records that year were Jets (7-7); Colts (5-9); Bills (4-9); Patriots (3-11)


The Dolphins' only games against winning teams were week 1 (KC 8-6) and week 13 (Giants 8-6).

The Jets and Vikings were both 7-7 that year.

Non-divisional opponents with losing records were the Oilers (1-13); Chargers (4-9); and Cardinals (also 4-9)


NONE of the Dolphins' regular season opponents made the playoffs that year

Counting the records of their divisional rivals once (even though they played twice), the combined record of all Dolphin opponents that season was 51-86-3, a .375 percentage.


In the AFC playoffs, the Dolphins barely beat Cleveland 20-14 in the Divisional round.

In the AFC title game, the Dolphins had to play AT Pittsburgh. Home field was not determined by W-L record in those days.

They barely beat the Steelers 21-17 in the AFC title game, with the help of a fake punt in the 4th quarter. (The Dolphins did outplay the Steelers and deserved the win, they led 21-17 in the 4th Qtr and the fake punt enabled them to keep possession of the ball at a crucial time).

Despite their undefeated record, the Dolphins were underdogs in the Super Bowl against the Redskins. The reason for that was because Washington had been a dominant playoff team, beating the Packers 16-3 in the Divisional round and destroying the defending champion Cowboys 26-3 in the NFC title game. The Redskins were playing better ball heading into the Super Bowl.


The Dolphins scored 385 points during the season and gave up 171, both figures led the NFL. They had 3 shutouts, two against the Colts and the other against New England.

In the playoffs and Super Bowl, they outscored their opponents 55-38, an average of only 18-13 per game. Their margins of victory were 6, 4 and 7 points.

The 73 Dolphins (also SB champs) outscored their opponents in the playoffs by an 85-33 margin (28-11 per game).

The 73 Dolphins were probably better than the 72 Dolphins, despite their 12-2 regular season record.

[duckie]

They only played two regular season teams with winning records and none of them made the playoffs. No wonder they went undefeated that year, they played a cupcake schedule.

[Tweety]

They only played two regular season teams with winning records and none of them made the playoffs. No wonder they went undefeated that year, they played a cupcake schedule.


It would be VERY tough to put together an easier schedule than the Dolphins had in 1972.

Still, lots of teams have had easy schedules, and no one else has gone undefeated.

Green Bay was set up to go unbeaten this year, and they lost to Kansas City. That shouldn't have happened.

In 2007, when the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season, they blew out the Cowboys in Week 6 (Dallas was 5-0 at the time) 48-27 in Dallas. Then, in Week 9, the Patriots played the Colts, who were 7-0 at the time. That game was at Indy, and the Pats won 24-20. No other team has ever handed TWO teams their first loss that late into a season.

The Patriots also destroyed the Steelers 34-13 in week 14. That was at New England. The Steelers were 9-3 at the time. I've been a Steelers fan since the early 70s, but that's the only time I've ever rooted against them.

The Patriots went through a very difficult schedule that year. They also beat the Chargers during the reg season (and would meet them again in the AFC title game). And of course, they beat the Giants in a great Week 17 matchup, 38-35, coming back from a 12 point deficit. The Giants were 10-5 going into that game.


The Patriots also dodged a couple of real bullets during the season in their victories over the Eagles and Ravens. Against the Ravens, I think Brady hit Jabbar Gaffney with a TD pass in the final minute to win 27-24 (week 13). And in Week 12, they beat the Eagles 31-28 and I think they intercepted an Eagle pass at the goal line on the final play of the game. The Eagles led 28-24 during the 4th quarter of that game.

[MrCleveland]

It would be VERY tough to put together an easier schedule than the Dolphins had in 1972.

Still, lots of teams have had easy schedules, and no one else has gone undefeated.

Green Bay was set up to go unbeaten this year, and they lost to Kansas City. That shouldn't have happened.

In 2007, when the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season, they blew out the Cowboys in Week 6 (Dallas was 5-0 at the time) 48-27 in Dallas. Then, in Week 9, the Patriots played the Colts, who were 7-0 at the time. That game was at Indy, and the Pats won 24-20. No other team has ever handed TWO teams their first loss that late into a season.

The Patriots also destroyed the Steelers 34-13 in week 14. That was at New England. The Steelers were 9-3 at the time. I've been a Steelers fan since the early 70s, but that's the only time I've ever rooted against them.

The Patriots went through a very difficult schedule that year. They also beat the Chargers during the reg season (and would meet them again in the AFC title game). And of course, they beat the Giants in a great Week 17 matchup, 38-35, coming back from a 12 point deficit. The Giants were 10-5 going into that game.


The Patriots also dodged a couple of real bullets during the season in their victories over the Eagles and Ravens. Against the Ravens, I think Brady hit Jabbar Gaffney with a TD pass in the final minute to win 27-24 (week 13). And in Week 12, they beat the Eagles 31-28 and I think they intercepted an Eagle pass at the goal line on the final play of the game. The Eagles led 28-24 during the 4th quarter of that game.

I don't even count The 2007 Patriots Season Perfect...because they lost The Super Bowl!

[Tweety]

I don't even count The 2007 Patriots Season Perfect...because they lost The Super Bowl!


It wasn't perfect. I was just illustrating the difference between the 14-0 Dolphins regular season opponents and the 16-0 '07 Patriots' opponents in terms of strength of schedule.

Everyone knows that the 72 Dolphins were perfect. But not many people know WHY they were perfect. As Woody Paige would say, "look at the schedule".