2010s NFL Trivia
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50 free 2010s NFL trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This 2010s NFL trivia quiz covers the whole decade, from the Saints' surprise onside kick in Super Bowl XLIV to Patrick Mahomes' comeback in Super Bowl LIV. Every championship game in between is here: the Packers' sixth-seed run, the 9-7 Giants, the Har-Bowl blackout, Seattle's 43-8 rout, Malcolm Butler's interception, Peyton Manning's last ride, 28-3, the Philly Special, and the 13-3 game. Alongside the big games are the plays and controversies that defined the era: the Beast Quake, the Fail Mary and the replacement referees, the Butt Fumble, Tebowmania, the Minneapolis Miracle, the Miami Miracle, Bountygate, Deflategate, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick's protest, the Rams and Chargers moving to Los Angeles and Andrew Luck's shock retirement. Record-setters like Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson and the 55-touchdown Peyton Manning get their questions too. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the games, players and seasons, and each question quotes the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which team opened the decade by upsetting the Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV in February 2010?
New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints: they trailed 10-0 early, and Tracy Porter sealed the upset by returning a Peyton Manning interception 74 yards for a touchdown.
Q 02What surprise play opened the second half of Super Bowl XLIV in February 2010?
An onside kick
An onside kick: on the call nicknamed 'Ambush', Thomas Morstead kicked short to start the half, his team came out of a long pile-up with the ball, and the drive that followed gave it a first lead of the game.
Q 03The 2010 Packers became the first team to reach the Super Bowl as what?
An NFC sixth seed
An NFC sixth seed: at 10-6 they were the conference's last qualifier, won every playoff game on the road, then beat Pittsburgh 31-25 in Super Bowl XLV, with Aaron Rodgers named MVP.
Q 04Which 9-7 team won Super Bowl XLVI in 2012?
New York Giants
New York Giants: Ahmad Bradshaw scored the winning touchdown half by accident, trying to stop at the 1-yard line to run down the clock after the Patriots chose to let him through.
Q 05Super Bowl XLVII in February 2013 was nicknamed for which brothers, its two opposing head coaches?
The Harbaughs
The Harbaughs: John's Ravens beat brother Jim's 49ers 34-31, but only after a 34-minute power cut turned a 28-6 rout into a finish that came down to the final plays.
Q 06Which Raven opened the second half of Super Bowl XLVII with a record 108-yard kickoff-return touchdown?
Jacoby Jones
Jacoby Jones: he caught the kick deep in his own end zone and ran it all the way back, and moments later half the Superdome's lights failed and stopped the game for 34 minutes.
Q 07Which Giants rookie made a one-handed, falling-backwards touchdown catch against Dallas in November 2014?
Odell Beckham Jr.
Odell Beckham Jr.: his 43-yard grab, hailed by many as the greatest catch ever made, put his team 14-3 up, yet the Cowboys came back to win the game 31-28.
Q 08Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium was the first played where?
Outdoors in a cold-weather city
Outdoors in a cold-weather city: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was the first open-air, cold-weather venue awarded a Super Bowl; the game-time temperature turned out to be a mild 49°F.
Q 09Which Patriots cornerback intercepted Russell Wilson at the goal line to win Super Bowl XLIX?
Malcolm Butler
Malcolm Butler: the undrafted rookie jumped Ricardo Lockette's slant at the goal line with 20 seconds left, after Seattle chose to throw from the 1 rather than hand to Marshawn Lynch.
Q 10Which Broncos linebacker was MVP of Super Bowl 50, Peyton Manning's final game?
Von Miller
Von Miller: he had 2.5 sacks and forced two fumbles that set up both of his team's touchdowns, as the defense piled up seven sacks in a 24-10 win; the NFL dropped Roman numerals for that game.
Q 11From what deficit did the Patriots come back to beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI?
28–3
28–3: trailing 28-3 midway through the third quarter, the Patriots scored 25 unanswered points and won 34-28 in the first Super Bowl ever to go to overtime.
Q 12Which Patriots running back set Super Bowl records with 14 receptions and 20 points in Super Bowl LI?
James White
James White: his 14 catches and 20 points (one receiving touchdown, two rushing touchdowns and a two-point run) were both Super Bowl records, and his 2-yard run ended the game in overtime.
Q 13The Patriots' Super Bowl LIII win in February 2019 set what record?
Lowest-scoring championship game ever
Q 21Which Vikings receiver caught the 61-yard walk-off 'Minneapolis Miracle' touchdown in 2018?
Stefon Diggs
Stefon Diggs: with 10 seconds left, Case Keenum found Diggs on the sideline, safety Marcus Williams whiffed, and Diggs ran in as time expired for a 29-24 win.
Q 22Which Dolphins running back scored on the multi-lateral 'Miracle in Miami' in 2018?
Kenyan Drake
Kenyan Drake: Ryan Tannehill hit Kenny Stills, who lateraled to DeVante Parker, who flipped it to Drake, and he ran past tight end Rob Gronkowski, the last man back, to win it 34-33.
Q 23Which kicker's 64-yard field goal in December 2013 broke the NFL distance record?
Matt Prater
Lowest-scoring championship game ever: just 16 points in all, with the losers punting on each of their first eight possessions and Sony Michel's 2-yard run the only touchdown.
Q 14Which 33-year-old became the youngest head coach in Super Bowl history at Super Bowl LIII?
Sean McVay
Sean McVay: born in January 1986, he lost that night to Bill Belichick's Patriots, then came back three years later to become the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl.
Q 15Whom did the Chiefs beat in Super Bowl LIV for their first title in 50 years?
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers: Kansas City trailed the 49ers 20-10 entering the fourth quarter and scored 21 unanswered points to win 31-20, with Patrick Mahomes named MVP.
Q 16'Deflategate' arose from the Patriots' win over which team in the AFC Championship Game of January 2015?
Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts: the 45-7 AFC title win over the Colts on January 18, 2015 triggered the under-inflated-ball investigation; the team was fined $1 million and forfeited two draft picks.
Q 17What did the Patriots' quarterback have destroyed during Deflategate?
His cell phone
His cell phone: the league said he had it destroyed just before meeting its investigators, and the commissioner cited that when he upheld a four-game ban, finally served in 2016.
Q 18Which head coach was suspended for all of 2012 over the Saints' 'Bountygate' scandal?
Sean Payton
Sean Payton: he became the first head coach the NFL had ever suspended, sitting out all of 2012 for failing to stop the pay-for-injury bounty pool run by his defensive staff.
Q 19The 2012 'Fail Mary' game, decided by replacement officials, was won by the Seahawks over which team?
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers: Golden Tate and Green Bay's M.D. Jennings both grabbed Russell Wilson's last-play heave, two officials signalled differently, and Seattle won 14-12; the referee lockout ended two days later.
Q 20Which Jets quarterback ran into his own lineman's backside in the 2012 'Butt Fumble'?
Mark Sanchez
Mark Sanchez: he slammed into guard Brandon Moore's backside, fumbled, and Steve Gregory returned it for a touchdown during a 52-second Patriots scoring burst on Thanksgiving night 2012.
Matt Prater: his 64-yarder on the last play of the first half beat a 63-yard mark that four kickers had shared since Tom Dempsey in 1970, and pulled Denver within a point of Tennessee in a game it won 51-28.
Q 24Tim Tebow's 2011 Broncos beat the Steelers on an 80-yard overtime touchdown pass to whom?
Demaryius Thomas
Demaryius Thomas: his catch-and-run won it 29-23 just 11 seconds into overtime and left Tebow with 316 passing yards, which made 'John 3:16' the top search on Google that night.
Q 25Which running back rushed for 2,097 yards in 2012, nine short of the NFL's single-season record?
Adrian Peterson
Adrian Peterson: he fell nine yards short of Eric Dickerson's 2,105 in his first season back from tearing two knee ligaments, and was named the league's MVP for it.
Q 26Whose 1,964 receiving yards in 2012 broke Jerry Rice's single-season record?
Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson: he passed Rice's 1,848 with a game to spare, piling up 225 yards on the night, yet his team still lost that game 31-18.
Q 27Which quarterback became the NFL's career passing-yards leader in October 2018?
Drew Brees
Drew Brees: he took the record from Peyton Manning in style, with a 62-yard touchdown pass on a Monday night as his team routed Washington 43-19.
Q 28Which 49ers quarterback began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality?
Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick: he first sat, then knelt, during the anthem in the 2016 preseason, never played another NFL game after that season, and settled a collusion grievance with the league in 2019.
Q 29Which Colts quarterback shocked the league by retiring at 29, two weeks before the 2019 NFL season began?
Andrew Luck
Andrew Luck: the 2018 Comeback Player of the Year announced his retirement on August 24, 2019, saying he was worn down by an unending cycle of injury and rehabilitation.
Q 30Which team left St. Louis and returned to Los Angeles in 2016?
The Rams
The Rams: they played in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994 before two decades in St. Louis; San Diego's team followed them to Los Angeles a year later.