| Miami Dolphins | |||||
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 Current season | |||||
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| Established August 16, 1965[1] First season: 1966 Play in Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida Headquartered in Miami Gardens, Florida[2] | |||||
| League / conference affiliations | |||||
American Football League (1966–1969)
National Football League (1970–present)
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| Uniforms | |||||
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| Team colors | Aqua, orange, white, marine blue[3][4][5] | ||||
| Mascot | T. D. | ||||
| Website | miamidolphins.com | ||||
| Personnel | |||||
| Owner(s) | Stephen M. Ross[6] | ||||
| CEO | Tom Garfinkel | ||||
| General manager | Chris Grier | ||||
| President | Tom Garfinkel | ||||
| Head coach | Mike McDaniel | ||||
| Team history | |||||
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| Team nicknames | |||||
| Championships | |||||
League championships (2)
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| Conference championships (5) | |||||
| Division championships (13) | |||||
| Playoff appearances (25) | |||||
| Home fields | |||||
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| Team owner(s) | |||||
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The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, a northern suburb of Miami. The team is owned by Stephen M. Ross. The Dolphins are the oldest professional sports team in Florida. Of the four AFC East teams, the Dolphins are the only team in the division that was not a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The Dolphins were also one of the first professional football teams in the southeast, along with the Atlanta Falcons.
The Dolphins were founded by Joe Robbie, an attorney and politician, and Danny Thomas, an actor and comedian. They began play in the AFL in 1966. The region had not had a professional football team since the days of the Miami Seahawks, who played in the All-America Football Conference in 1946, before becoming the first incarnation of the Baltimore Colts. For the first few years, the Dolphins' full-time training camp and practice facilities were at Saint Andrew's School, a private, boys boarding prep school in Boca Raton. Miami joined the NFL as a result of the 1970 AFL–NFL merger.
The team played in its first Super Bowl in Super Bowl VI, losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 24–3. The following year, the Dolphins completed the NFL's only perfect season, culminating in a Super Bowl win, winning all 14 of their regular-season games, and all three of their playoff games, including Super Bowl VII. They were the third NFL team to accomplish a perfect regular season, and remain the only team to do so including playoffs since the AFL-NFL merger, the time known as the Super Bowl era. The next year, the Dolphins won Super Bowl VIII, becoming the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, and the second team (the first AFL/AFC team) to win back-to-back championships. Miami also appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games.
For most of their early history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula, the most successful head coach in professional football history in terms of total games won. Under Shula, the Dolphins posted losing records in only two of his 26 seasons as the head coach. During the period spanning 1983 to the end of 1999, quarterback Dan Marino became one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, breaking numerous league passing records. Marino led the Dolphins to five division titles, 10 playoff appearances, and an appearance in Super Bowl XIX before retiring following the 1999 season.
Since Marino's retirement, they have experienced mediocre levels of success and have just six playoff appearances (2000, 2001, 2008, 2016, 2022, and 2023) and two division titles (2000 and 2008) with one playoff win. They currently have the longest postseason win drought in the NFL.
- ^ "Miami Dolphins Team Facts". ProFootballHOF.com. Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
- ^ "Contact Us". MiamiDolphins.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ "Miami Dolphins Uniforms: Historically Modern". MiamiDolphins.com. Miami Dolphins. April 19, 2018. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
- ^ "Miami Dolphins Logo History" (PDF). 2023 Miami Dolphins Media Guide (PDF). NFL Enterprises. August 6, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Miami Dolphins Team Capsule" (PDF). 2022 Official National Football League Record and Fact Book (PDF). NFL Enterprises. July 20, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ "Dolphins Front Office". MiamiDolphins.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ^ "The Best Nickname in Every Team's NFL History". Bleacher Report. July 27, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
- ^ "Miami Dolphins". Sports Ecyclopedia. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
- ^ Wolfe, Cameron (August 25, 2022). "1972 Miami Dolphins: The inside story of the only perfect season in NFL history". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
The Dolphins began the season 4-0, with three relatively easy wins and a big scare against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. Miami was led by the three-headed rushing attack of Csonka, Morris and Kiick, as well as its "No-Name Defense," which was so called because of a lack of superstars.