NFL Nicknames
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50 free NFL Nicknames trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Every NFL team name started somewhere: a sponsor's cheque, a newspaper contest, a local industry, a baseball neighbour or a politician's ego. Nicknames did not stop at the front office, either. Sportswriters, broadcasters and teammates have been hanging labels on defensive lines, offenses, running backs and even single plays for a century, and the best of them have outlived the careers of those who earned them. This quiz covers the lot: where team names come from and what some clubs were called before, the famous unit nicknames from the 1960s to the 2010s, the players known better by a nickname than by the one on their birth certificate, and the games and plays that fans only ever refer to by a tag. It is written for fans who can match a nickname to a club in a heartbeat, for quiz hosts building a football round, and for newer fans who keep hearing these names on broadcasts and want the stories behind them. Each answer comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still teaches you something.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which NFL team's name, chosen in a fan contest, comes from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe?
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens honour Poe, who spent the early part of his career in the city and is buried there. The club's three costumed mascots were named Edgar, Allan and Poe.
Q 02Which nickname did the narration of a 1978 NFL Films highlight reel hang on the Dallas Cowboys?
America's Team
America's Team was coined by producer Bob Ryan, who wanted a new twist on the club's yearly highlight film. He later became editor-in-chief of NFL Films.
Q 03Which Chicago Bears running back, the NFL's career rushing leader when he retired, was nicknamed 'Sweetness'?
Walter Payton
Walter Payton picked up the name in college, before his 13 seasons in Chicago. The NFL's Man of the Year Award, given for community service as well as play, now bears his name.
Q 04Which NFL team's name, revived from an earlier club in its city, honours a famous Wild West showman?
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills took the name of a 1940s team from a rival league, itself a pun on frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody.
Q 05Which nickname is given to Franco Harris's shoestring touchdown catch that beat Oakland in a 1972 playoff game?
Immaculate Reception
The Immaculate Reception got its name on air from Pittsburgh sportscaster Myron Cope, who was passing on a fan's suggestion. Oakland coach John Madden said he would never get over the play.
Q 06Which nickname, coined as an insult by Illinois sports fans, do supporters of Wisconsin's NFL team now embrace?
Cheeseheads
Cheeseheads took the taunt as a badge of honour once foam cheese-wedge hats caught on in the 1990s. The team bought the hat's maker in 2023.
Q 07Which Chicago Bears defensive tackle, a 1985 rookie who also ran the ball, was nicknamed 'The Refrigerator'?
William Perry
William Perry earned the name at Clemson, when a teammate squeezing into an elevator beside him said he was about as big as a refrigerator.
Q 08Which nickname for a desperate long pass caught on after Roger Staubach described his winning 1975 playoff throw?
Hail Mary
Hail Mary is the prayer Staubach, a devout Catholic, said he recited with his eyes closed as the ball flew toward Drew Pearson to beat Minnesota.
Q 09Which NFL team is named after its original head coach, who also co-founded the club in the 1940s?
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns honour Paul Brown, their first coach, who later co-founded a second professional team in the same state.
Q 10Which nickname did the Seattle Seahawks secondary of Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor go by?
Legion of Boom
The Legion of Boom allowed the fewest points in the NFL four seasons running, from 2012 to 2015. The name later stretched to cover Seattle's whole defense.
Q 11Which NFL team is named after the prospectors who poured into California during the Gold Rush?
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers first used a logo of a mustached gold miner leaping in midair and firing two pistols, one of them nearly hitting his own foot.
Q 12Which cornerback, the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series, was nicknamed 'Prime Time'?
Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders won Super Bowls in back-to-back seasons with two different teams. His one World Series came in 1992 as an Atlanta outfielder.
Q 13Which nickname did a 1971 radio contest give Pittsburgh's defensive line?
Steel Curtain
Q 21Which NFL team is named for the meat company that paid $500 for its first uniforms in 1919?
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers got the money on condition that they carry the sponsor's name. Founder Curly Lambeau worked for the Indian Packing Company, which was bought out by Acme Packing the following year.
Q 22Which nickname was given to the St. Louis Rams offense that scored 500 points in three straight seasons from 1999?
Greatest Show on Turf
The Greatest Show on Turf won Super Bowl XXXIV behind quarterback Kurt Warner, who five years earlier had been stocking shelves at an Iowa grocery store.
Q 23Which nickname do fans use for AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a nod to the Dallas Cowboys' owner?
The Steel Curtain name, a play on the Cold War's Iron Curtain, was sent in by 17 listeners, so a drawing awarded the grand prize to a ninth grader. The line went on to anchor four Super Bowl wins in six seasons.
Q 14Which Detroit Lions receiver did a teammate nickname 'Megatron' after a towering Transformers villain?
Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson got the name from fellow receiver Roy Williams, who thought his huge hands resembled the Decepticon's. In 2012 he led the league with 1,964 receiving yards.
Q 15Which Seattle running back, whose 2011 playoff run registered on a nearby seismometer, is nicknamed 'Beast Mode'?
Marshawn Lynch
Marshawn Lynch broke nine tackles on the 67-yard run, and the crowd's celebration measured magnitude 2.0. The play has been called the Beast Quake ever since.
Q 16Which nickname did the Chicago Bears' 1940s title teams take over from the University of Chicago's squad?
Monsters of the Midway
Monsters of the Midway first described the university's Maroons, who played beside a South Side park called the Midway Plaisance. The name was revived for the Bears' fierce 1985 defense.
Q 17Which name did the NFL's Tennessee Titans drop in 1999, a holdover from their decades in Houston?
Oilers
Oilers was the name Houston oil tycoon Bud Adams gave the team he founded in 1959. It outlasted the move to Tennessee by two seasons before the club chose a new one for its new stadium.
Q 18Which nickname belongs to the gold rally cloth that broadcaster Myron Cope created for Pittsburgh's 1975 playoff run?
Terrible Towel
The Terrible Towel began as a radio-station gimmick that Cope at first refused to invent. Its sales have raised more than $8 million for a school that cares for children and adults with disabilities.
Q 19Which Pittsburgh running back did a Notre Dame student reporter nickname 'The Bus' for taking tacklers for a ride?
Jerome Bettis
Jerome Bettis ended his career by winning Super Bowl XL in Detroit, his hometown. His coach Bill Cowher also called him 'the Closer' for running out the clock with a lead.
Q 20Which nickname did the Minnesota Vikings defensive line of Alan Page and Carl Eller borrow from a 1958 novelty song?
Purple People Eaters
The Purple People Eaters reached four Super Bowls without winning one. Page, the line's tackle, became the first defensive player ever voted NFL MVP.
Jerry World
Jerry World salutes Jerry Jones, who pictured the building as a large entertainment venue rather than only a football ground. It opened in 2009 under the name Cowboys Stadium.
Q 24Which name did Washington's NFL team adopt in 2022 after two seasons as the 'Football Team'?
Commanders
Commanders replaced a name the club had carried since 1933 and retired in 2020 after decades of criticism.
Q 25Which nickname stuck to the 2007 scandal that cost New England coach Bill Belichick a $500,000 fine?
Spygate
Spygate began when the Patriots were caught videotaping an opponent's defensive signals. The fine was the largest the league could impose, and the team also lost a first-round draft choice.
Q 26Which player in each NFL Draft earns the nickname 'Mr. Irrelevant' and a week of mock celebrations?
The final pick
The final pick is feted in Newport Beach, California, and handed the Lowsman Trophy, a parody of the Heisman that shows a player fumbling the ball.
Q 27Which quarterback earned a 'Broadway' nickname from a teammate after appearing on a 1965 Sports Illustrated cover?
Joe Namath
Joe Namath was dubbed Broadway Joe by offensive tackle Sherman Plunkett. He made it literal in 1983 by joining a Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.
Q 28Which nickname did a Dallas sportswriter coin in 1964 for the Cowboys unit anchored by tackle Bob Lilly?
Doomsday Defense
The Doomsday Defense carried Dallas to five Super Bowls in the 1970s. In the fourth of them, linemen Harvey Martin and a teammate shared the MVP award, a first for the game.
Q 29Which nickname is given to the lateral kickoff return that won Tennessee a playoff game in January 2000?
Music City Miracle
The Music City Miracle had Frank Wycheck throw across the field to Kevin Dyson, who ran 75 yards with seconds left. The Titans' own name for the play was Home Run Throwback.
Q 30Which Hall of Fame defensive end, an ordained Baptist minister, was nicknamed the 'Minister of Defense'?
Reggie White
Reggie White already had the nickname as a college senior at Tennessee, years before he became one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL.