It’s somehow fitting that the first season the Miami Dolphins took to the field was in 1966. They were an expansion team in the American Football League, which ironically was in the process of merging with the NFL. Under head coach George Wilson, the team was a combined 15-39-2 in its first four seasons.
The irony here is that 1966 was the first season of the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game,” which would eventually be renamed Super Bowl I. In a relatively short time, the Super Bowl and the Miami Dolphins would become synonymous.
Turning point
The fortunes of the organization would come with the hiring of former Colts’ sideline leader Don Shula in 1970. Two years earlier, his team would suffer a stinging 16-7 loss in Super Bowl III at Miami’s Orange Bowl. Baltimore was heavily favored, but Joe Namath, Matt Snell, and New York’s defense had other plans.
Shula turned the Dolphins into a playoff team in his first season. They finished 10-4 and grabbed a wild card berth, but lost to the Raiders in the divisional round. That was just the beginning. Over the next four seasons, Miami would amass a combined 47-8-1 record. In 1971, the team reached Super Bowl VI, but were humbled by the Dallas Cowboys at Tulane Stadium in the second Super Bowl played in New Orleans. The “highlight” for the club in the 24-3 loss was quarterback Bob Griese being sacked by Bob Lilly for a 29-yard loss.
Then things got serious. The Dolphins achieved perfection in 1972 with a 17-0 overall season. They capped off the historic feat with a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII at the L.A. Coliseum. To prove it was hardly a fluke, Shula’s team was even more impressive in a 12-2 campaign in 1973. They rolled the Bengals (34-16), Raiders (27-10), and Vikings (24-7) in the postseason by a combined 85-33 score. The 17-point victory over Minnesota in Super Bowl VIII at Houston’s Rice Stadium was a clinic in offensive line play.
Hence, just eight years into this championship format, this one-time expansion team had already made more Super Bowl appearances than any other franchise (3).
The two-time champions won a fourth straight AFC East title in 1974, but Shula’s 11-3 team was thwarted by the 12-2 Raiders, 28-26, in the legendary “Sea of Hands” divisional playoff clash. The Dolphins would go on to reach Super Bowls XVII and XIX, losses to Washington and San Francisco, respectively. Sadly, the team’s Super Bowl days have come to a grinding halt for now. Still, those 1970s squads are a distant, but significant memory.