Miami Dolphins · History

The Miami Dolphins are an American football franchise based in Miami Gardens, Florida, founded in 1966. They play in the AFC East and host their games at Hard Rock Stadium. They won Super Bowls VII and VIII and are the only NFL team to complete a perfect season, in 1972.

The 1966 Expansion Team and the Hiring of Don Shula

Lawyer Joe Robbie and entertainer Danny Thomas were awarded the American Football League's first expansion franchise in 1965, for 7.5 million dollars. The name came out of a fan contest. The team debuted in 1966 at the Orange Bowl under George Wilson and joined the NFL in the 1970 merger. In February of that year Robbie hired Don Shula away from the Baltimore Colts, with whom he had lost Super Bowl III. The league made Miami forfeit a first-round draft pick as compensation. Shula coached Miami through 1995 and won 257 games with the club. His 347 career victories remain the NFL record.

The First Super Bowl and the Longest Game

On December 25, 1971 the Dolphins beat Kansas City 27-24 in the divisional round on a Garo Yepremian field goal in the second overtime. It lasted 82 minutes and 40 seconds of play, the longest game in league history. Three weeks later, on January 16, 1972, Miami lost Super Bowl VI to the Dallas Cowboys 24-3 without scoring a touchdown.

The Perfect Season of 1972 and the Second Ring

In 1972 the Dolphins won all 14 regular season games, both playoff games and Super Bowl VII to finish 17-0. It is the only unbeaten season in the NFL since the playoffs began. On January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Miami beat Washington 14-7. The opponent's only points came after Yepremian tried to throw the ball away on a blocked field goal and Mike Bass returned the loose ball for a touchdown. Bob Griese was injured in week five and Earl Morrall carried the team to the conference title game. Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris each passed 1,000 rushing yards that year. The defense, short on famous names, went down in history as the No-Name Defense, a label Tom Landry pinned on it before Super Bowl VI, with Nick Buoniconti, Dick Anderson and Jake Scott, the MVP of Super Bowl VII.

Miami repeated on January 13, 1974: 24-7 over the Minnesota Vikings in Houston, with 145 rushing yards from Csonka, named MVP. The run ended in 1975, when Csonka, Jim Kiick and receiver Paul Warfield signed with the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League. From that squad, Shula, Griese, Csonka, Warfield, Buoniconti, guard Larry Little and center Jim Langer are in the Hall of Fame.

Five Super Bowls

The Dolphins have played five Super Bowls, all five with Shula on the sideline.

The Killer B's and Super Bowl XVII

In the early 1980s Miami built another team around its defense. It was called the Killer B's because seven starters had surnames beginning with that letter: Baumhower, Bokamper, Betters, Brudzinski, Bowser and the Blackwood brothers. On January 30, 1983, at Pasadena, the Dolphins lost Super Bowl XVII 27-17 to Washington. The decisive play was John Riggins's 43-yard run on fourth-and-one from the Miami 43. It was the second final between the two clubs in ten years.

Dan Marino

The Dolphins took Dan Marino with the 27th pick of the 1983 draft, the sixth quarterback chosen in that first round. In his second season he threw for 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns, both league records at the time, and became the first quarterback to pass for 5,000 yards in a season. His receivers, Mark Clayton and Mark Duper, were known as the Marks Brothers. On January 20, 1985 Miami lost Super Bowl XIX 38-16 to the San Francisco 49ers. On November 27, 1994, in New Jersey, he produced the fake spike: he mimed stopping the clock and threw the winning touchdown against the Jets. Marino retired after the 1999 season with 61,361 yards and 420 touchdown passes, the career records at the time, and was enshrined in Canton in 2005. He never won a ring.

From the Orange Bowl to Hard Rock Stadium

The team played at the Orange Bowl in Miami from 1966 to 1986. Its current home opened in August 1987 as Joe Robbie Stadium, built with private money, and changed names several times before becoming Hard Rock Stadium in 2016. It seats about 65,000, was fitted with a canopy in the 2015 and 2016 renovation and has hosted six Super Bowls, the most recent in February 2020. The site also stages the Miami tennis Open since 2019 and the Formula 1 Grand Prix since 2022.

From Jimmy Johnson to the Wildcat

Jimmy Johnson coached the team from 1996 to 1999 and Dave Wannstedt through 2004. Wayne Huizenga took ownership in the 1990s and Stephen Ross bought a majority stake in 2009. In 2002 the club traded for running back Ricky Williams, who led the NFL with 1,853 rushing yards that season and abruptly retired in July 2004. Nick Saban coached two seasons and left for Alabama in January 2007. After a 1-15 season in 2007, with a single win against Baltimore on December 16, the club hired Bill Parcells to run football operations. In 2008 Miami won the division at 11-5 and popularized the Wildcat formation: on September 21, 2008, at Foxborough, Ronnie Brown took direct snaps, ran for four touchdowns and threw for another in a 38-13 win.

Bills, Jets and Patriots

Miami has shared a division since 1970 with the Buffalo Bills, the New York Jets and the New England Patriots. During the 1970s the club beat Buffalo twenty times in a row. The Jets series produced two games that are still replayed: Marino's fake spike in 1994 and the Monday Night Miracle of October 23, 2000, when New York came back from 30-7 down to win 40-37 in overtime. And on December 2, 1985, at the Orange Bowl, the Dolphins beat the unbeaten Chicago Bears 38-24, handing them their only defeat of that season.

The Club's Marks

The club drafted quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fifth overall in 2020, traded for receiver Tyreek Hill in March 2022 and hired Mike McDaniel as head coach the same year. On September 24, 2023 Miami beat Denver 70-20, the highest points total by an NFL team in a game since 1966. From December 30, 2000 through the 2023 season it did not win a single playoff game. The Dolphins have retired Griese's 12, Marino's 13 and Csonka's 39, and keep an Honor Roll at the stadium for the rest of their history. Center Dwight Stephenson and defenders Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas are also in the Hall of Fame. The crowd sings the team fight song and raises its arms in the "Fins Up" salute.