2018 NFL Season
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
50 free 2018 NFL Season trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 2018 NFL season swung between extremes. One Monday night game produced 105 points; the Super Bowl that ended the year produced 16. A playoff kick struck the goalpost twice, a division game ended on a pair of laterals, and a missed call in a conference championship changed the rulebook. This quiz covers the whole 2018–19 campaign: the draft and its crop of first-round quarterbacks, the blockbuster trades and holdouts, the new rules, the records that fell, the individual awards, the players' own Top 100 list, and the postseason through Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta. It suits fans who lived through the season and want to test what they remember, hosts putting together a football round, and anyone who came to the sport later. Each answer carries a short explanation with the story behind it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which quarterback, in his first season as a starter, threw 50 touchdown passes and won the 2018 NFL MVP award?
Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes joined Peyton Manning as the only players with 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns in one season. He had given up baseball at Texas Tech to focus on football.
Q 02Which pop band headlined the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in Atlanta, joined by rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi?
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 took the slot after Rihanna and Pink reportedly turned it down. Criticized for accepting, the band announced a donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Q 03Which Chicago Bears kicker missed the playoff field goal known as the Double Doink in January 2019?
Cody Parkey
Cody Parkey's 43-yard try hit the left upright, bounced off the crossbar and fell back out. Replays showed a Philadelphia lineman had tipped the ball, so the NFL ruled the kick a block.
Q 04Which Dolphins running back scored on the final lateral of the Miami Miracle to beat New England in December 2018?
Kenyan Drake
Kenyan Drake took the second lateral and ran 52 yards as time expired for a 34–33 win. It was the first game-ending NFL touchdown to involve more than one lateral.
Q 05The Rams' 54–51 win over the Chiefs in November 2018 was moved to Los Angeles from where?
Mexico City
Mexico City lost the game six days before kickoff because rain and a crowded event schedule had ruined the turf at Estadio Azteca. It became the first NFL game in which both teams scored 50 points.
Q 06Which New England receiver was named MVP of Super Bowl LIII, a 13–3 win over the Los Angeles Rams?
Julian Edelman
Julian Edelman caught 10 passes for 141 yards, having opened the season with a four-game suspension. The 16 combined points were the fewest in any Super Bowl to that point.
Q 07Which beer brand's "victory fridges" unlocked across Cleveland when the Browns ended a 19-game winless streak in 2018?
Bud Light
Bud Light placed the fridges in Cleveland-area bars and set them to unlock on the first win. It came on a Thursday night against the New York Jets, in the third game of the season.
Q 08Which company made Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th-anniversary ad campaign in September 2018?
Nike
Nike faced boycott calls and videos of customers destroying its gear. Within two weeks its share price closed at the highest level in the company's history to that point.
Q 09Which Pittsburgh Steelers running back sat out the entire 2018 NFL season rather than sign his franchise tag?
Le'Veon Bell
Le'Veon Bell turned down a one-year tender worth $14.5 million and missed the November deadline to report. He left as a free agent the following March.
Q 10Which Washington quarterback broke his leg in November 2018, 33 years to the day after Joe Theismann did?
Alex Smith
Alex Smith developed a life-threatening infection and needed 17 surgeries to save the leg. He returned to play in 2020 and was named Comeback Player of the Year.
Q 11Which Oklahoma quarterback, a former walk-on who won the Heisman Trophy, was the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft?
Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield threw 27 touchdown passes that fall, then a record for an NFL rookie. His first appearance came off the bench in the third game, with his team down 14–0.
Q 12Which pass rusher did Oakland trade to the Chicago Bears for two first-round picks days before the 2018 NFL season?
Khalil Mack
Khalil Mack had held out through the whole preseason. Chicago gave him a six-year, $141 million extension, then the richest contract ever for a defensive player.
Q 13Which quarterback passed Peyton Manning for the career passing yards record on a 62-yard touchdown in October 2018?
Drew Brees
Q 21Which Indianapolis Colts quarterback won 2018 Comeback Player of the Year after missing all of 2017 through injury?
Andrew Luck
Andrew Luck was voted to his fourth Pro Bowl that season. He then retired before the next one began, citing the injuries he had sustained.
Q 22Which Heisman-winning Louisville quarterback did Baltimore take with the last pick of the 2018 first round?
Lamar Jackson
Lamar Jackson took over in November after Joe Flacco hurt his hip, and won the division. At 21 he became the youngest quarterback yet to start an NFL playoff game.
Q 23Which UCF linebacker, whose left hand was amputated when he was four, did Seattle draft in 2018?
Shaquem Griffin
Drew Brees broke the record against Washington, then sent a personalized football and letter to the players who had helped him get there.
Q 14Which coach returned to the Raiders in 2018 on a 10-year, $100 million contract after nine years in broadcasting?
Jon Gruden
Jon Gruden had spent those years as an analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football. His deal carried a no-trade clause, because the Raiders had once dealt him to the Buccaneers for draft picks and cash.
Q 15A missed call late in the January 2019 NFC Championship Game led the NFL to make which penalty reviewable?
Pass interference
Pass interference went uncalled on a Rams cornerback's early hit, and New Orleans lost in overtime. Coaches could challenge such calls in 2019, but the rule was dropped after one season.
Q 16Which cartoon got a brief tribute in the Super Bowl LIII halftime show after fans petitioned to honor its late creator?
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants appeared only in a short clip, which disappointed many who had signed. The petition asked for a song from an episode in which the characters play a halftime show themselves.
Q 17Which defensive tackle led the NFL with 20.5 sacks and was named 2018 Defensive Player of the Year?
Aaron Donald
Aaron Donald had skipped the whole offseason in a contract dispute. He signed a six-year, $135 million extension on August 31, just before the season began.
Q 18Which running back, drafted second overall by the New York Giants, was named 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year?
Saquon Barkley
Saquon Barkley was the highest-drafted running back since Reggie Bush in 2006. He made the Pro Bowl in his first season.
Q 19Which New England tight end announced his retirement at 29, weeks after winning Super Bowl LIII?
Rob Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski had blocked a trade to Detroit a year earlier by threatening to retire rather than leave. He returned to the field in 2020.
Q 20Which quarterback topped the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018, the first player voted No. 1 three times?
Tom Brady
Tom Brady was the reigning league MVP when fellow players voted on the list. He was already the only player to have finished first more than once.
Shaquem Griffin went in the fifth round and landed on the same team as his twin brother, cornerback Shaquill. The brothers had played college football together too.
Q 24Which Titans running back tied an NFL record with a 99-yard touchdown run against Jacksonville in December 2018?
Derrick Henry
Derrick Henry fended off three tacklers on the way to matching Tony Dorsett. Because 99 yards is the longest possible run from scrimmage, the record can only ever be tied.
Q 25Which Harvard-educated quarterback opened 2018 with three straight 400-yard passing games, an NFL first?
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ryan Fitzpatrick was filling in at Tampa Bay while the regular starter served a three-game suspension. He retired without ever appearing in a postseason game.
Q 26Which kicker, aged 45, became the NFL's all-time leading scorer during the 2018 season?
Adam Vinatieri
Adam Vinatieri took the points record from Morten Andersen, having passed him for the most career field goals earlier that same season.
Q 27Which 2018 Hall of Fame inductee skipped the Canton ceremony and gave his speech at his old college instead?
Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens held his own event at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the first inductee to skip the official one. A day later he worked out for a Canadian team.
Q 28Which Dallas tight end retired in 2018 to join ESPN's Monday Night Football booth, then returned to play in 2019?
Jason Witten
Jason Witten spent one season as the show's lead analyst before rejoining Dallas on a one-year, $4.5 million deal.
Q 29Which Los Angeles Rams head coach became, at 33, the youngest to lead a team into a Super Bowl?
Sean McVay
Sean McVay was half the age of his opposite number in Super Bowl LIII, 66-year-old Bill Belichick. He had been the league's youngest head coach since the Rams hired him at 30.
Q 30Which Saints receiver marked a 2018 touchdown against the Rams by recreating Joe Horn's hidden cell phone celebration?
Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas was given a 15-yard penalty and a $30,000 fine for the tribute, which followed a 72-yard score. Horn said he teared up watching it and bought the younger man's jersey.