SWC75
Bored Historian
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The surviving members of the 1972 clink glasses when the last undefeated NFL team goes down each year. they got to do it again last night when the Washingotn Commanders beat the previously 8-0 Philadelphia Eagles. As a long-time fan of the '72 Dolphins, I was inspired to update this post I first made in 2002 and last updated in 2011:
There was an article in USA today (when I first did this in 2002) saluting the 30th anniversary of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated Super Bowl champions. The article discusses their bitterness over not getting the recognition they deserve. Over the years their achievement has been acknowledged but historians have tended to conclude that they were a bit overrated and that some other team- The '66 Packers,'78 Steelers, '84 49ers, '85 Bears and others are more popular choices as the best team ever.
The article points out that the Dolphins played only two teams with winning records - the Chiefs and the Giants, both of whom wound up 8-6. Overall the Dolphins opponents had an anemic record of 51-86-3, (.372). The second place team in their division that year, the Jets, were only 7-7. I remember Bret Musburger reacting to a feature CBS's NFL today did once on the '72 Dolphins by saying that they were good, "But I think the '78 Steelers might have been a little two explosive for them."
Those are interesting facts but they aren't the only facts. The Dolphins had one of those seasons, where some formidable opponents were not as strong as expected. They opened against a Kansas City team that had won 60 regular season games in 6 years but would win only 8 that year. The Colts had won 84 games in 8 seasons but won only 5 that year. The Dolphins rallied to beat the Vikings in Minnesota. The Vikings won 87 games from 1969-76 but were only 7-7 that year. And, of course the Dolphins beat the Browns, who won 85 games from 1964-72, including 10 in that year, in the playoffs. Then they beat the Steelers who won 11 that year, beginning an 8 year stretch in which they would win 88 games and four Super Bowls. Then they won the Super Bowl over a Redskins team that was 13-3 going into that game and which had beaten the Packers and Cowboys by a combined 42-6 to get there. The Skins would win 67 games in the seven years from 1971-77. The Dolphins also won twice vs. Joe Namath's last decent jets team. That was the year he and Johnny Unitas hooked up in that 44-34 dual where they had 10 TD passes between them. The Fish beat them both twice. The Dolphins played good teams.
From 1970-75, they had quite a stretch of their own. They went 75-19-1, (.798) in 6 years, (67 regular season wins). They won three straight AFC championships. The only team to appear in more, (or even as many – until the 2016-18 Patriots appeared in three in a row), consecutive Super Bowls is the Buffalo Bills and the Dolphins won two of theirs. Three of their victories in this era were over the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were great games: 24-21, 21-17 and 30-26, but the Dolphins won all three. It is interesting to speculate who would have been the team of the decade if the Dolphins had stayed together but they got hit hard by defections to the World Football League and by injuries attributed to the artificial turf that was used in the Orange Bowl at the time, generally regarded as the worst ever. The era ended with a 6-8 record in 1976, after which 11 Dolphin offensive and defensive starters had knee surgery. The rug was replaced by natural grass the next season. By the way, Brent Musburger, the 1978 Steelers scored 356 points in 16 games. The 1972 Dolphins scored 385 points in 14 games.
The main point, though, is that the Dolphins did this in the NFL. As the 49ers found out last night, (in 2002 and the Eagles twenty years later), everybody in the NFL can beat you. They used to say there are no Kansas States in the NFL. K-State has been pretty good for a while now, so now they have to use someone else, (Vanderbilt seems to be the school of choice right now). It just isn't possible for an NFL team to just show up and beat somebody because the other team doesn't have the size, speed, talent or depth to compete with you. It takes an enormous amount of focus to go out and win EVERY game, not just most of them or almost all of them.
Since the NFL was founded in 1920, 8 pro football teams have gone through the regular season unbeaten. Four of them date back to the 1920's, when pro football was just getting started. (1920 Akron Pros 8-0-3, 1922 Canton Bulldogs 10-0-2, 1923 Canton Bulldogs 11-0-1, 1929 green Bay Packers 12-0-1), All those teams had ties and none played in a post season game. The first NFL championship game was in 1933. In the second NFL championship game, the 13-0 Chicago Bears led the New York Giants, 13-3 at half time on a frozen field where players from both teams were slipping and sliding all over the place. The Giants came out attired in sneakers for the second half and pushed the Bears, still in cleats, all over the field, winning 30-13. Eight years later, an 11-0 Bears team that had outscored its opposition 376-84 got beat 14-6 by a 10-1 Redskins team thirsting for revenge for the 73-0 embarrassment in the 1940 NFL title game. The 1948 Cleveland Browns went 14-0 and won their championship game over the Buffalo Bills 49-7. But that was in the All-America Conference, not the NFL. The Browns would join the NFL two years later.
In 1951 they lost their first game, won 11 straight and then lost to the Rams on a late TD pass in the Championship game. In 1953, they won their first 11 games, then got beat by the Eagles and then by the Lions on a late TD pass in the championship game. In 1962 the Packers were 10-0 when the Lions beat them 26-14 in the most famous Thanksgiving Day game. They wound up 13-1 and beat the Giants for their second title in a row. The Bears beat them 10-3 to open the 1963 season and won 5 straight before losing to the 0-5 49ers. Then went on to an 11-1-2 record and beat the Giants in the title game. In 1967, the Colts were 11-0-2 going into the final game of the year but got swamped by the Rams, 10-34. The Rams had lost to the 7-7 49ers. Both teams wound up 11-1-2. The Colts didn't make the playoffs despite that record, (the best record ever for a non-playoff team). The Rams lost to Lombardi's last (9-4-1) Packer team, 7-28 in the playoffs. The Raiders lost only to the Jets, 14-27 until the Packers beat them, 33-14 in the Super Bowl. The next year the Colts lost to a 2-3 Cleveland team, 20-30, and didn't lose again until the jets beat them in SBIII. The 1976 Raiders got crushed by New England, 17-48 in their fourth game of the season. They didn't lose after that, beating the Vikings in the Super Bowl, 32-14. Both the Raiders and Redskins were 8-1 in the strike-shorted 1982 season. The Raiders lost to the Jets in the playoffs. The Skins beat Miami, 27-17 in the Super Bowl. The 1984 49ers lost their 7th game to the 9-7 Steelers, 17-20 before finishing 18-1, including a SB victory over the Dolphins, who had won their first 11 games. The next year Chicago was 12-0 when Miami beat them, 38-24 in the most famous Monday night game ever. The '72 Dolphins were honored that night and they witnessed their successors defend the franchise's record of having the only NFL team to win every game, regular season and post season.
(Since then the 2004 Steelers lost their second game, 3-30 to a 9-7 Ravens team, the 2007 Patriots went 16-0 but lost the Super Bowl to the Giants – thank you David Tyree! – the 2011 Packers won their first 13 games before falling 14-19 to the 7-9 Chiefs, the 2015 Panthers were 14-0 before losing 14-20 to the 8-8 Falcons. None fo those teams won the Super Bowl.)
All told, there have been 43 pro football teams since the NFL was founded who wound up the regular season with one loss. There have been 88 teams with 2 losses, (this excludes some teams from the early days who folded before the season was over). There have been only 8 undefeated teams. That means it's twice as hard to finish with one loss as it is with two losses but 5 times harder than that to finish undefeated. It's not arithmetically more difficult than finishing a season with one loss. It's geometrically more difficult. And only 1 in 8 of the unbeatens has won them all, regular season and post season, in the NFL.
Why haven't the Dolphins gotten their due? I think it's a mater of images. You think of the Bears of the 40's and you think of Bill Osmanski going 68 on the first play vs. the Skins. You think of the Browns of the 50's you picture "Automatic" Otto Graham dropping back to pass and hitting Dante Lavelli or Mac Speedie for the touchdown. With Lombardi's Packers, you see the great coach saying "We want a seal here and a seal here and we run it up the alley" and then they show Jim Taylor going 80 yards against the Lions. The Steelers are the Steel Curtain and Bradshaw to Stallworth and Swann. Then you think of Joe Montana spotting a wide-open Jerry Rice for another 49ers score. The Dolphins? You see a 5-8 175 pound Cypriot tie maker attempting to throw a pass and having it bounce into the air where a DB named Mike Bass gets himself a free touchdown. That's the image of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, (who with a good kick would have won the Super Bowl 17-0 to go 17-0).
One last word. The tight ends for the 1972 Miami Dolphins were Marv Fleming, who was the tight end for the 1966 Packers and Jim Mandich, who was a back-up tight end for the 1978 Steelers, two teams often cited as being the best teams ever. Both have been quoted as saying that the 1972 Dolphins were the best team they ever played for.
10/27/11 Update
There have now been 9 undefeated teams (The Patriots did it in 2007 but lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants.) 44 teams have one loss, (2004 Steelers). 94 teams have had two losses, (New England in 2003, 2004 and 2010, Indianapolis in 2005 and 2009 and San Diego in 2006). 46.8% of the number of teams that lost two games have lost only one game. 20.5% of the number of teams who have had one loss have gone undefeated.
11/19/22 update:
We’ve had no more undefeated teams, 2 more one loss teams and 3 more 2 loss teams. With the Eagles loss last night, there are two 8-1 teams and two 7-2 in the 2022 standings but with 7 games to go. It’s obviously even harder to achieve these records with a 17 game regular season, (why an odd number?) than with 16, 14, 12, etc. But the big challenge is to avoid games like the one the Eagles had: an 8-0 team lost to 4-5 division rival, getting off to a 14-7 lead but losing the rest of the game 7-25 , getting out-gained 264-330, including out-rushed 94-152, (a measure of the physical nature of the game) and having more turnovers (4-2) and penalties (7-5) and possessing the ball for 19:24 to 40:36
www.espn.com
It’s not about being the most overwhelmingly powerful teams, a team that nobody has any hope of beating. It’s about maintaining focus and consistent effort week after week after week with no exceptions. It also helps to be lucky but, as branch Rickey said, that’s the residue of design.
Anyway the score, at this moment is 9 undefeated regular seasons, 46 one loss teams and 97 two loss teams since the NFL was formed 102 years ago. That’s 47% as many one loss teams as two loss teams and 20% as many undefeated teams and one loss teams. It’s still five times as hard to be undefeated rather having a loss and just twice as hard to have 1 loss instead of 2.
There was an article in USA today (when I first did this in 2002) saluting the 30th anniversary of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated Super Bowl champions. The article discusses their bitterness over not getting the recognition they deserve. Over the years their achievement has been acknowledged but historians have tended to conclude that they were a bit overrated and that some other team- The '66 Packers,'78 Steelers, '84 49ers, '85 Bears and others are more popular choices as the best team ever.
The article points out that the Dolphins played only two teams with winning records - the Chiefs and the Giants, both of whom wound up 8-6. Overall the Dolphins opponents had an anemic record of 51-86-3, (.372). The second place team in their division that year, the Jets, were only 7-7. I remember Bret Musburger reacting to a feature CBS's NFL today did once on the '72 Dolphins by saying that they were good, "But I think the '78 Steelers might have been a little two explosive for them."
Those are interesting facts but they aren't the only facts. The Dolphins had one of those seasons, where some formidable opponents were not as strong as expected. They opened against a Kansas City team that had won 60 regular season games in 6 years but would win only 8 that year. The Colts had won 84 games in 8 seasons but won only 5 that year. The Dolphins rallied to beat the Vikings in Minnesota. The Vikings won 87 games from 1969-76 but were only 7-7 that year. And, of course the Dolphins beat the Browns, who won 85 games from 1964-72, including 10 in that year, in the playoffs. Then they beat the Steelers who won 11 that year, beginning an 8 year stretch in which they would win 88 games and four Super Bowls. Then they won the Super Bowl over a Redskins team that was 13-3 going into that game and which had beaten the Packers and Cowboys by a combined 42-6 to get there. The Skins would win 67 games in the seven years from 1971-77. The Dolphins also won twice vs. Joe Namath's last decent jets team. That was the year he and Johnny Unitas hooked up in that 44-34 dual where they had 10 TD passes between them. The Fish beat them both twice. The Dolphins played good teams.
From 1970-75, they had quite a stretch of their own. They went 75-19-1, (.798) in 6 years, (67 regular season wins). They won three straight AFC championships. The only team to appear in more, (or even as many – until the 2016-18 Patriots appeared in three in a row), consecutive Super Bowls is the Buffalo Bills and the Dolphins won two of theirs. Three of their victories in this era were over the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were great games: 24-21, 21-17 and 30-26, but the Dolphins won all three. It is interesting to speculate who would have been the team of the decade if the Dolphins had stayed together but they got hit hard by defections to the World Football League and by injuries attributed to the artificial turf that was used in the Orange Bowl at the time, generally regarded as the worst ever. The era ended with a 6-8 record in 1976, after which 11 Dolphin offensive and defensive starters had knee surgery. The rug was replaced by natural grass the next season. By the way, Brent Musburger, the 1978 Steelers scored 356 points in 16 games. The 1972 Dolphins scored 385 points in 14 games.
The main point, though, is that the Dolphins did this in the NFL. As the 49ers found out last night, (in 2002 and the Eagles twenty years later), everybody in the NFL can beat you. They used to say there are no Kansas States in the NFL. K-State has been pretty good for a while now, so now they have to use someone else, (Vanderbilt seems to be the school of choice right now). It just isn't possible for an NFL team to just show up and beat somebody because the other team doesn't have the size, speed, talent or depth to compete with you. It takes an enormous amount of focus to go out and win EVERY game, not just most of them or almost all of them.
Since the NFL was founded in 1920, 8 pro football teams have gone through the regular season unbeaten. Four of them date back to the 1920's, when pro football was just getting started. (1920 Akron Pros 8-0-3, 1922 Canton Bulldogs 10-0-2, 1923 Canton Bulldogs 11-0-1, 1929 green Bay Packers 12-0-1), All those teams had ties and none played in a post season game. The first NFL championship game was in 1933. In the second NFL championship game, the 13-0 Chicago Bears led the New York Giants, 13-3 at half time on a frozen field where players from both teams were slipping and sliding all over the place. The Giants came out attired in sneakers for the second half and pushed the Bears, still in cleats, all over the field, winning 30-13. Eight years later, an 11-0 Bears team that had outscored its opposition 376-84 got beat 14-6 by a 10-1 Redskins team thirsting for revenge for the 73-0 embarrassment in the 1940 NFL title game. The 1948 Cleveland Browns went 14-0 and won their championship game over the Buffalo Bills 49-7. But that was in the All-America Conference, not the NFL. The Browns would join the NFL two years later.
In 1951 they lost their first game, won 11 straight and then lost to the Rams on a late TD pass in the Championship game. In 1953, they won their first 11 games, then got beat by the Eagles and then by the Lions on a late TD pass in the championship game. In 1962 the Packers were 10-0 when the Lions beat them 26-14 in the most famous Thanksgiving Day game. They wound up 13-1 and beat the Giants for their second title in a row. The Bears beat them 10-3 to open the 1963 season and won 5 straight before losing to the 0-5 49ers. Then went on to an 11-1-2 record and beat the Giants in the title game. In 1967, the Colts were 11-0-2 going into the final game of the year but got swamped by the Rams, 10-34. The Rams had lost to the 7-7 49ers. Both teams wound up 11-1-2. The Colts didn't make the playoffs despite that record, (the best record ever for a non-playoff team). The Rams lost to Lombardi's last (9-4-1) Packer team, 7-28 in the playoffs. The Raiders lost only to the Jets, 14-27 until the Packers beat them, 33-14 in the Super Bowl. The next year the Colts lost to a 2-3 Cleveland team, 20-30, and didn't lose again until the jets beat them in SBIII. The 1976 Raiders got crushed by New England, 17-48 in their fourth game of the season. They didn't lose after that, beating the Vikings in the Super Bowl, 32-14. Both the Raiders and Redskins were 8-1 in the strike-shorted 1982 season. The Raiders lost to the Jets in the playoffs. The Skins beat Miami, 27-17 in the Super Bowl. The 1984 49ers lost their 7th game to the 9-7 Steelers, 17-20 before finishing 18-1, including a SB victory over the Dolphins, who had won their first 11 games. The next year Chicago was 12-0 when Miami beat them, 38-24 in the most famous Monday night game ever. The '72 Dolphins were honored that night and they witnessed their successors defend the franchise's record of having the only NFL team to win every game, regular season and post season.
(Since then the 2004 Steelers lost their second game, 3-30 to a 9-7 Ravens team, the 2007 Patriots went 16-0 but lost the Super Bowl to the Giants – thank you David Tyree! – the 2011 Packers won their first 13 games before falling 14-19 to the 7-9 Chiefs, the 2015 Panthers were 14-0 before losing 14-20 to the 8-8 Falcons. None fo those teams won the Super Bowl.)
All told, there have been 43 pro football teams since the NFL was founded who wound up the regular season with one loss. There have been 88 teams with 2 losses, (this excludes some teams from the early days who folded before the season was over). There have been only 8 undefeated teams. That means it's twice as hard to finish with one loss as it is with two losses but 5 times harder than that to finish undefeated. It's not arithmetically more difficult than finishing a season with one loss. It's geometrically more difficult. And only 1 in 8 of the unbeatens has won them all, regular season and post season, in the NFL.
Why haven't the Dolphins gotten their due? I think it's a mater of images. You think of the Bears of the 40's and you think of Bill Osmanski going 68 on the first play vs. the Skins. You think of the Browns of the 50's you picture "Automatic" Otto Graham dropping back to pass and hitting Dante Lavelli or Mac Speedie for the touchdown. With Lombardi's Packers, you see the great coach saying "We want a seal here and a seal here and we run it up the alley" and then they show Jim Taylor going 80 yards against the Lions. The Steelers are the Steel Curtain and Bradshaw to Stallworth and Swann. Then you think of Joe Montana spotting a wide-open Jerry Rice for another 49ers score. The Dolphins? You see a 5-8 175 pound Cypriot tie maker attempting to throw a pass and having it bounce into the air where a DB named Mike Bass gets himself a free touchdown. That's the image of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, (who with a good kick would have won the Super Bowl 17-0 to go 17-0).
One last word. The tight ends for the 1972 Miami Dolphins were Marv Fleming, who was the tight end for the 1966 Packers and Jim Mandich, who was a back-up tight end for the 1978 Steelers, two teams often cited as being the best teams ever. Both have been quoted as saying that the 1972 Dolphins were the best team they ever played for.
10/27/11 Update
There have now been 9 undefeated teams (The Patriots did it in 2007 but lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants.) 44 teams have one loss, (2004 Steelers). 94 teams have had two losses, (New England in 2003, 2004 and 2010, Indianapolis in 2005 and 2009 and San Diego in 2006). 46.8% of the number of teams that lost two games have lost only one game. 20.5% of the number of teams who have had one loss have gone undefeated.
11/19/22 update:
We’ve had no more undefeated teams, 2 more one loss teams and 3 more 2 loss teams. With the Eagles loss last night, there are two 8-1 teams and two 7-2 in the 2022 standings but with 7 games to go. It’s obviously even harder to achieve these records with a 17 game regular season, (why an odd number?) than with 16, 14, 12, etc. But the big challenge is to avoid games like the one the Eagles had: an 8-0 team lost to 4-5 division rival, getting off to a 14-7 lead but losing the rest of the game 7-25 , getting out-gained 264-330, including out-rushed 94-152, (a measure of the physical nature of the game) and having more turnovers (4-2) and penalties (7-5) and possessing the ball for 19:24 to 40:36
Commanders 32-21 Eagles (Nov 14, 2022) Game Stats - ESPN
Complete team stats and game leaders for the Washington Commanders vs. Philadelphia Eagles NFL game from November 14, 2022 on ESPN.
It’s not about being the most overwhelmingly powerful teams, a team that nobody has any hope of beating. It’s about maintaining focus and consistent effort week after week after week with no exceptions. It also helps to be lucky but, as branch Rickey said, that’s the residue of design.
Anyway the score, at this moment is 9 undefeated regular seasons, 46 one loss teams and 97 two loss teams since the NFL was formed 102 years ago. That’s 47% as many one loss teams as two loss teams and 20% as many undefeated teams and one loss teams. It’s still five times as hard to be undefeated rather having a loss and just twice as hard to have 1 loss instead of 2.
