Miami Dolphins

Inaugural season: 1966

Home field: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida

Owner: Stephen Ross

Team colors: Aqua, orange, and white

Overview

The Miami Dolphins are a National Football League (NFL) franchise that plays in the East division of the American Football Conference (AFC). The Dolphins sport one of the most iconic NFL uniforms with their distinctive pastel-tinted aqua, orange, and white color scheme. In particular, the 1972 Dolphins became the first and only undefeated regular and postseason team in NFL history. In total, Miami has won two Super Bowls, five AFC championships, and thirteen AFC East division championships. However, the team has experienced several periods marked by struggle since their unparalleled 1972 season.

The Dolphins play in the Hard Rock Stadium, a 64,767-seat capacity facility located in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens. The facility was originally known as Joe Robbie Stadium until 1996, when the facility began to auction off its naming rights. Beginning in 2016, these rights were sold to Hard Rock International for eighteen years at a cost of $250 million. This marked the sixth time the stadium has been renamed. Starting in 2017, owner Stephen Ross began a renovation of the facility that was expected to cost $500 million before its completion.

With its location in one of the United States’ largest media markets, the Dolphins are rated as one of the most valuable professional franchises in the world. Forbes magazine estimated the Dolphins as being worth $5.7 billion in 2023, making it the eleventh most valuable NFL franchise.

History

Miami has a professional history dating back to 1946 when the city had a short-lived All-American Football Conference team known as the Miami Seahawks. In 1959, several wealthy investors decided to form the American Football League (AFL), a rival league to the long-running NFL. Miami was regarded as one of the best candidates for a team due to the lack of any professional sports franchises in the southeastern United States. Though the city was not granted a team in the AFL’s inaugural season, it was finally offered an expansion team for the 1966 season. The franchise was bought by attorney Joe Robbie and actor Danny Thomas for $7.5 million. The team picked the name “Dolphins” after a fan contest voted it as the most popular choice.

George Wilson, the former coach of the Detroit Lions, was selected as the team’s first head coach. Filled with castoffs and young players, the team struggled in its first four seasons, finishing 15–39–2. Wilson was fired in 1970 and replaced with Don Shula, the former coach of the Baltimore Colts. Under Shula, the team experienced a golden age. In Shula’s first season, the Dolphins rebounded from a 3–10–1 season to go 10–4. Between 1971 and 1974, the Dolphins went to three consecutive Super Bowls, capped by the team’s perfect 17–0 record in 1972. This mark included playoff wins and was topped off by the Dolphins’ 14–7 win over the team that later became the Washington Commanders in Super Bowl VII. During this incredible season, Miami averaged more than 200 rushing yard per game and their defense only allowed 171 points during the entire season. The Dolphins repeated as Super Bowl champions in 1973 with a 24–7 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Shula remained at the helm of the Dolphins for a remarkable twenty-six seasons. Combined with his seven years spent coaching in Baltimore, Shula won 328 career games—an all-time record as of 2023. Despite his enormous success with the Dolphins, the Super Bowl victory over Washington would prove to be Shula’s last Super Bowl win. While he never was able to recapture the magic of his first four seasons, he led the Dolphins to a first or second place finish in the AFC East twenty-two out of his twenty-six years at the helm. In addition, he recorded only two losing seasons, in 1976 and 1988. After the 1982 and 1984 seasons, Shula guided the Dolphins back to the Super Bowl, but lost on both occasions. By 1995, Shula was regarded as an institution in Miami, but the team’s lack of playoff success led to pressure for a change in leadership. Pressed to retire, Shula accepted a front-office position with the team, leaving the Dolphins with a coaching vacancy for the first time since 1969.

The Dolphins selected Jimmy Johnson to fill the position; Johnson had led the Dallas Cowboys to two Super Bowl wins and was regarded as hometown hero after taking the University of Miami Hurricanes to the national title in 1987. The Dolphins made the playoffs in each of Johnson’s four seasons as coach, but were unable to advance past the divisional round of the postseason. Even worse, he followed a team legend in Shula, and Johnson’s vocal and colorful personality further highlighted the differences between the two men. Johnson ultimately went 36–28 in the regular season and 3–4 in the playoffs. After a devastating 62–7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1999 playoffs—the worst playoff loss by any team since 1940—Johnson was fired.

For a team that had enjoyed the stability of a single coach for more than twenty-five years, the next two decades were difficult. Between 1995 and the 2011 season, Miami rotated between eight different coaches and more than a dozen different quarterbacks. During this time, the Dolphins managed only two winning seasons and two playoff appearances. In 2008, the team went 11–5 before losing handily to the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the playoffs. In 2016, Miami again managed a winning record, this time seeing its season end at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30–12, in the Wild Card Round. However, the hiring of head coach Mike McDaniel in 2022 seemingly brought some stability to the Dolphins, who then progressed to the Wild Card Round of the 2022 NFL playoffs. Then, in a 70–20 victory over the Denver Broncos during the 2023 season, the Dolphins became the first team in NFL history to score 70 points and log 700 yards of offense in a single game.

Notable players

The Miami Dolphins have had more than a dozen members enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Many of those players played most or all of their careers with Miami. The Dolphins are perhaps most associated with its quarterbacks, two of whom have been named to the hall of fame. Bob Griese (1967–1980) was the first star quarterback for the team, and was one of two that led the team during its undefeated run in the 1972 season. He was the starting quarterback for both of Miami’s Super Bowl victories. Griese’s son, Brian, would eventually start at quarterback for the Dolphins during the 2003 season, making them the first father-son duo to start at quarterback for the same team.

Bob Griese was replaced as quarterback during the 1972 season by Earl Morrall (1972–1976) when Griese went down with an injury. Morrall proved to a key component of the team’s undefeated run. However, perhaps no player is most associated with the Dolphins than Dan Marino (1983–1999). Marino starred with Miami for seventeen seasons, eventually racking up 61,361 passing yards and 420 touchdowns. When Marino retired in 1999, those marks were both all-time NFL records. Marino was inducted into the hall of fame in 2005; Griese was inducted in 2000.

Other key offensive weapons for the Dolphins included wide receivers Paul Warfield (1970–1974) who was the team’s all-time leading receiver when he left the team in 1974; wide receivers Mark Duper (1982–1992) and Mark Clayton (1983–1992), two of Marino’s favorite targets who were known as the “Marks Brothers”; tight ends Jim Mandich (1970–1977), Bruce Hardy (1978–1989), and Keith Jackson (1992–1994); hall of fame running back Larry Csonka (1968–1974, 1979), the franchise’s all-time leading rusher and MVP of Super Bowl VIII in 1973; and running back Ricky Williams (2002–2010), who ranks second in team history with 6,436 rushing yards and 48 touchdowns.

On the lines, Miami featured two excellent centers, Jim Langer (1970–1979) and Dwight Stephenson (1980–1987), both hall of fame selections. On the defensive side, linebacker Nick Buoniconti (1969–1974, 1976) made three Pro Bowls with the Dolphins and was named to the hall of fame in 2001. Other important players were offensive linemen Norm Evans (1966–1975), Larry Little (1969–1980), Bob Kuechenberg (1970–1984), Ed Newman (1973-1984), and Richmond Webb (1990–2000); and on the defensive line Manny Fernandez (1968–1975), Bill Stanfill (1969–1976), Van Den Herder (1971–1982), and Jason Taylor (1997–2007, 2009, 2011).

Bibliography

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“Miami Dolphins.” National Football League, 2019, www.nfl.com/teams/profile?team=MIA. Accessed 31 July 2019.

“Miami Dolphins Sell Stadium Naming Rights to Hard Rock International.” South Florida Sun Sentinel, 17 Aug. 2016, www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/sfl-miami-dolphins-hard-rock-stadium-20160816-story.html. Accessed 31 July 2019.

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