From PFT: The 49ers lost on Monday night, which means the 1972 Dolphins won. With the 49ers no longer undefeated, the ’72 Dolphins will remain, through another season, the only perfect team in NFL history. That Dolphins team went 14-0 in the regular season and won Super Bowl VII to complete the only undefeated, untied season the league has ever seen. This is the NFL’s 100th season, and those Dolphins stand in a unique place in league history. Some of those players may have raised a glass of champagne late on Monday night, when the Seahawks’ field goal at the end of overtime sealed the 49ers’ fate. So to Don Shula, Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris, Paul Warfield, Larry Little and all the other members of that great team, a hearty congratulations for a season without equal.
Well the Dolphins are the only team to go undefeated and win a "super bowl" but teams went unbeaten and did win the NFL championships prior to the AFL/NFL merger. But I'm ready to toast my favorite Dolphin team(1972).
I grew up with one of the Dolphins greats as a neighbor and he told us the champagne toast is blown way out of proportion- it never happened the way the media reports. There was alcohol involved at a party in 73/74 and there was a toast, but it did not continue thru the generations as a meet-up to drink the bubbly. If they were together, someone would raise a glass of whatever they were drinking, mainly to mock the media, and they'd laugh at the stupidity of the whole thing. I was present at a few of those "toasts" as a small kid, but unfortunately I can't remember them except for the neighborhood party itself.
I'll drink to that. I did last night too... But I gotta say, as an old fart who's been a fan since ever since, tired of it. What have you done for me lately?
I agree. It's really an awesome thing they did and really from 71 to 73, but enough. I am tired of hearing about something that happened when I was 7. I want to hear about how we won the Super Bowl This year!
Not true. The 1920 Akron Pros, 1922 Canton Bulldogs, 1923 Canton Bulldogs and 1929 Greenbay Packers were all undefeated, but with ties. The 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears had perfect regular seasons but lost in the title game. Of course we all know about the 2007 Patriots. The 1972 Dolphins are the only team to win every game on their schedule. They also did it in an era when regular season games that were tied at the end of regulation counted as ties as overtime for the regular season started in 1974.
But here's the question... How many of you here actually saw that undefeated '72 season? I'm proud to say that was my first year watching football!
First game I really remember is Super Bowl VIII (the Super Bowl after the 1973 season, when they went 12-2). Little did I suspect it would be all downhill from there! I was too young in 1972. Thank goodness for YouTube. Honestly, I thought the 1973 team was better. They faced a much tougher regular season schedule than the '72 Fins, and they just dominated in the playoffs -- Miami scored a TD on its first possession in every game. But still, as the original poster pointed out, no one in 100 years did what the 1972 Fins did. Pretty amazing.