Miami Dolphins Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
48 free Miami Dolphins trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
40 free Miami Dolphins trivia questions with answers. The Miami Dolphins own the only perfect season in NFL history, the winningest coach the league has ever seen and the quarterback who rewrote the passing record book. This quiz covers all of it: the 1966 AFL birth, the 1972 season and back-to-back Super Bowls, the No-Name Defense and the Killer B's, Dan Marino's records, the stadium of many names, the 2008 Wildcat turnaround and the Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel years. It starts with questions any Fins fan can answer and climbs to the details that settle bar arguments. Difficulty ratings are shown so you can pick your battles. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the team, its history, its stadium and its Hall of Famers, and each question carries its source.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which league did the Miami Dolphins begin play in 1966?
The AFL
The AFL took Miami in as its ninth team, and the Dolphins won only 15 of their 56 games there before the 1970 merger carried them into the NFL.
Q 02Which comedian co-founded the Dolphins with the attorney whose name later went on their stadium?
Danny Thomas
The pair paid $7.5 million for the franchise in 1965; the star of Make Room for Daddy soon sold his share.
Q 03How was the Miami Dolphins' name chosen in 1965?
By a fan contest
By a fan contest that drew nearly 20,000 entries; more than 600 sent in Dolphins, a name the owner liked because the dolphin is one of the fastest and smartest creatures in the sea.
Q 04Who was the Miami Dolphins' first head coach, fired in 1970 after four losing seasons?
George Wilson
George Wilson had Don Shula on his Detroit Lions staff in the early 1960s; in 1970 Miami fired Wilson and gave his old assistant the job.
Q 05From which team did Don Shula come when he was hired by Miami in 1970?
The Baltimore Colts
The Baltimore Colts cried tampering when Miami hired their coach, and the NFL commissioner made the Dolphins hand over their first-round draft pick for 1971.
Q 06Which team's 18-0 run in 2007 nearly matched Miami's perfect season?
The Patriots
The Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII to a Giants touchdown in the final minute, so Miami's 17-0 run of 1972 was still the NFL's only perfect season as of 2025.
Q 07Which backup led the 1972 Dolphins for most of the season after Bob Griese broke his ankle?
Earl Morrall
Earl Morrall, 38 and claimed off waivers, started the rest of the regular season, then was benched for the healed Griese at halftime of the AFC title game.
Q 08Which two Dolphins were the first teammates to each rush for 1,000 yards in a season?
Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris
Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris needed a recount: Morris was credited with 991 yards until the league reviewed a fumbled lateral and gave him back nine, for exactly 1,000.
Q 09Whom did the Dolphins beat 14-7 in Super Bowl VII to complete the perfect season?
The Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins did not score until the fourth quarter; Miami safety Jake Scott intercepted two passes, one of them in his own end zone, and was named the game's MVP.
Q 10Which Dolphins kicker's ill-fated pass attempt was returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl VII?
Garo Yepremian
Garo Yepremian picked up his own blocked field goal, tried to throw it and batted the ball to cornerback Mike Bass, whose 49-yard return turned a 14-0 stroll into a tense finish.
Q 11Whom did Miami beat 24-7 in Super Bowl VIII to repeat as champions?
The Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings trailed 24-0 before they scored; fullback Larry Csonka ran 33 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns and was named the game's MVP.
Q 12Which team did Miami beat on Christmas Day 1971 in the longest game in NFL history?
The Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs lost 27-24 to a field goal in the second overtime, after 82 minutes and 40 seconds of play; one more win put Miami in its first Super Bowl.
Q 13Which team beat Miami in the 1974 playoffs in the game known as the 'Sea of Hands'?
The Oakland Raiders
Q 21Which receiver teamed with Mark Duper as Dan Marino's 'Marks Brothers'?
Mark Clayton
Mark Clayton was only an eighth-round pick in 1983, yet a year later he caught 18 touchdown passes, the most in the league.
Q 22Against which team did Marino pull off his famous fake spike in 1994?
The New York Jets
The New York Jets led 24-6 in the third quarter and relaxed when Marino signalled a clock-stopping spike; he threw the winning touchdown instead, completing a 28-24 comeback.
Q 23Dan Marino played college football in his home city for which university?
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh. A poor senior season there dropped his stock in the draft, yet he retired with 61,361 passing yards and 420 touchdown passes, both more than anyone before him.
The Oakland Raiders won 28-26 when Clarence Davis wrestled Ken Stabler's pass away from a crowd of Dolphins in the final seconds, ending Miami's two-year reign as champions.
Q 14Which rival league lured Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield away from Miami in 1975?
The WFL
The WFL put all three in Memphis, then folded midway through that season, its second; by then Miami's run of three straight Super Bowls was over.
Q 15What was the nickname of the Dolphins defence that reached Super Bowl XVII after the 1982 season?
The Killer B's
The Killer B's got the name because six of the eleven starters had surnames beginning with B, among them Bob Baumhower, Doug Betters and the Blackwood brothers.
Q 16Fulton Walker's 98-yard kickoff return put Miami ahead in Super Bowl XVII, but whose fourth-down touchdown run won it?
John Riggins
John Riggins broke loose on fourth-and-one and ran 43 yards for the winning score, so the first kickoff-return touchdown in Super Bowl history ended up in a 27-17 defeat.
Q 17Which quarterback went first overall in the 1983 draft, 26 picks before Miami took Dan Marino?
John Elway
John Elway led off the draft and four more teams took quarterbacks before a surprised Miami found Marino still there; the last of the six retired with the NFL records for yards and touchdowns.
Q 18Whose 2004 season broke Dan Marino's record of 48 touchdown passes?
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning broke it 20 years on. Marino's 48 in 1984, only his second season, had shattered the old mark of 36, a year after five teams drafted other quarterbacks ahead of him.
Q 19Which team beat Marino's Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX?
The San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers won although Marino completed a then-record 29 passes; in only his second season, he played 15 more years and never reached another Super Bowl.
Q 20Which 15-1 team's only defeat of the 1985 season came against Miami?
The Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears had won their first twelve games before losing 38-24 on a Monday night in Miami; they went on to win the Super Bowl, and the 1972 Dolphins stayed the only unbeaten champions.
Q 24In which 1994 comedy did Dan Marino play himself?
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective sends Jim Carrey after the Dolphins' stolen mascot, a dolphin named Snowflake, and then after Marino, who is kidnapped too with the Super Bowl days away.
Q 25Whose record for NFL coaching wins did Don Shula break in 1993?
George Halas
George Halas's 324 wins fell in Philadelphia: with Miami trailing and its quarterback hurt, reserve Doug Pederson came on to lead two field-goal drives, long before he coached the Eagles to a Super Bowl title.
Q 26Who replaced Don Shula as the Dolphins' head coach before the 1996 season?
Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson left a television studio to take the job, two years after winning back-to-back Super Bowls with Dallas; in four seasons he took Miami to three playoffs but never to another title game.
Q 27Which college did Nick Saban leave the Dolphins for in January 2007?
Alabama
Alabama announced him on 3 January 2007, thirteen days after Saban had told reporters, "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach."
Q 28Which coach took over Miami's football operations during its 1-15 season?
Bill Parcells
Bill Parcells replaced the general manager and the head coach, and a year later Miami went 11-5, tying the biggest one-season improvement in NFL history.
Q 29Which formation did the 2008 Dolphins spring on the Patriots to launch their turnaround season?
The Wildcat
The Wildcat sent the snap straight to running back Ronnie Brown, who ran for four touchdowns and threw for another in a 38-13 rout in Foxborough.
Q 30Which Dolphins running back retired days before the 2004 training camp and spent that autumn studying holistic medicine?
Ricky Williams
Ricky Williams was facing a four-game suspension for marijuana when he walked away; Miami sank to 4-12 without him, and he returned to the team in 2005.