50 free Monday Night Football trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Monday Night Football debuted on ABC in September 1970 with Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith in a three-man booth nobody had tried before. These Monday Night Football trivia questions cover the Cosell years, Hank Williams Jr. and Heavy Action, Theismann's leg, the Monday Night Miracle, the move to ESPN, Buck and Aikman and the Manningcast. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year did Monday Night Football debut on ABC?
1970
CBS had tried a few Monday games in the late 1960s, but ABC, a distant third in prime time, was the network willing to gamble on a weekly slot.
Q 02Which team hosted and won the first MNF game, 31–21 over the Jets?
Cleveland Browns
Billy Andrews intercepted Joe Namath late in the fourth quarter and returned it 25 yards for the clinching touchdown.
Q 03Which NFL commissioner pushed for a weekly prime-time game in the 1960s?
Pete Rozelle
Rozelle tested the idea with one Monday game on CBS in 1966 and 1967 before signing a weekly deal with ABC for 1970.
Q 04Which ABC Sports producer designed MNF as an entertainment 'spectacle'?
Roone Arledge
He ordered twice the usual number of cameras, expanded the booth to three announcers and leaned on instant replay.
Q 05Who directed Monday Night Football for more than 22 years from its launch?
Chet Forte
Forte was hired by Arledge to turn the game into a show, and he stayed in the truck into the 1980s.
Q 06Who was the original MNF play-by-play announcer in 1970?
Keith Jackson
Jackson lasted one season before returning to college football, where he became the voice of the sport for decades.
Q 07Which Dodgers broadcaster did Arledge try to hire for play-by-play before settling on Jackson?
Vin Scully
He tried Curt Gowdy first, then Scully, but neither could escape their existing contracts.
Q 08Which former Cowboys quarterback, nicknamed 'Dandy Don', was an original 1970 analyst?
Don Meredith
Gifford, still under contract to CBS, suggested him for the seat, setting up years of sparring with Cosell.
Q 09Which line did 'Dandy Don' sing when a game was out of reach?
Turn out the lights, the party's over
The line comes from Willie Nelson's 'The Party's Over', and it became the signal that garbage time had arrived.
Q 10Which ex-Giants star took over play-by-play in 1971 after leaving CBS?
Frank Gifford
He would stay on the show until 1998, the longest tenure of any MNF broadcaster.
Q 11Gifford's see-no-evil approach to the NFL earned him which nickname?
Faultless Frank
Critics felt he never said a harsh word about the league that had made him a Hall of Famer in 1977.
Q 12Gifford played his 12-season NFL career for which team?
New York Giants
He played halfback, flanker and safety, and was married to TV host Kathie Lee Gifford from 1986 until his death.
Q 13Howard Cosell was born with which surname?
Cohen
He said the change, made while a law student, restored a version of the family's original Polish name.
Q 21Which nickname did Fred Williamson, dropped before the 1974 season even began, carry?
The Hammer
He quipped that he was hired to 'bring some color to the booth', then proved so inarticulate in preseason that ABC cut him.
Q 22Which ex-Lion joined the booth in 1974 and said a Raider attended 'the University of Mars'?
Alex Karras
The target was Otis Sistrunk, who never went to college; the Raiders' guide listed his alma mater as 'U.S. Mars'.
Q 23Which newly retired quarterback began working games with Cosell and Gifford in 1979?
Fran Tarkenton
Meredith was contractually limited to 14 games when the NFL went to 16, so ABC needed a fill-in.
Q 14What was Cosell's profession before he became a full-time broadcaster?
Lawyer
He was admitted to the New York bar in 1939 and hosted a Little League radio show for free before giving up the law.
Q 15In which city was Howard Cosell born?
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
His father was an accountant, and the family was Jewish; Cosell made his name in New York radio.
Q 16Cosell rose to prominence in the 1960s covering which boxer?
Muhammad Ali
He covered the fighter from his Cassius Clay days and was one of the few broadcasters to use his Muslim name early on.
Q 17Which sponsor's chairman asked ABC to remove Cosell from the booth in 1970?
Ford
Henry Ford II backed off once the ratings came in.
Q 18What did an ill Cosell vomit on during a 1970 Giants–Eagles telecast?
Meredith's cowboy boots
He had been drinking at a promotional party before the game, and Jackson and Meredith finished the broadcast without him.
Q 19Which former Beatle was interviewed by Cosell in the booth in December 1974?
John Lennon
Six years later, on December 8, 1980, Cosell broke the news of his murder during a Dolphins–Patriots game.
Q 20Which governor explained football's rules to Lennon off-camera during that 1974 game?
Ronald Reagan
Reagan was then the outgoing governor of California and was interviewed by Gifford on air.
Q 24Which Hall of Fame quarterback was hired as an MNF analyst for the 1985 season?
Joe Namath
He debuted at the Hall of Fame Game the same weekend he and O. J. Simpson were inducted; both were gone after one season.
Q 25Which Giants linebacker's tackle ended Joe Theismann's career on MNF in 1985?
Lawrence Taylor
Viewers saw the compound fracture of his tibia and fibula in slow-motion replay at RFK Stadium.
Q 26Which team handed the 1985 Bears their only loss, in MNF's most-watched game?
Miami Dolphins
The 38–24 game earned a 29.6 Nielsen rating and a 46 share.
Q 27Which announcer, famed for 'Do you believe in miracles?', took over play-by-play in 1986?
Al Michaels
He had been calling Monday Night Baseball for ABC since 1983 and stayed on MNF through its last ABC season in 2005.
Q 28Which former Cardinals lineman joined the booth in 1987 to restore the three-man format?
Dan Dierdorf
He stayed until 1999, when he left for a return to CBS.
Q 29Who composed 'Heavy Action', the theme MNF began using in 1975?
Johnny Pearson
It was production music that ABC programmers first heard on a BBC show, and it was initially used only as background.
Q 30Hank Williams Jr.'s 1989 MNF opener reworked which of his own hits?
All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight
The retooled version, 'All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night', ran until 2011 and returned in 2017.