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History Of The Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins were founded in 1966 as part of the American Football League. Joe Robbie set them up as an expansion team. They joined the NFL in 1970, when the AFL and NFL merged. The Dolphins are Florida's oldest currently operating professional sports team.

The Dolphins saw early failures as a football team. They won just 15 games in their first four seasons of existence. But after hiring Don Shula as head coach, they saw NFL success. They reached the Super Bowl in 1971 after just their second season in the NFL.

Though they lost that game to the Dallas Cowboys, they bounced back the next year for even more success. In the 1972 season, the Dolphins did not lose a game, capturing a Super Bowl championship after a historic perfect 14-0 run. To date, they are the only NFL team to finish a season with a perfect record. The next season, they won Super Bowl VIII and finished with a 12-2 record.

For the rest of the 1970s, the Dolphins experienced several ups and downs. Though they made the playoffs several times, they did not win another championship. Their next Super Bowl appearance came after the 1982 season. Though the "killer B's" defense had stifled opponents during the regular season, the Dolphins lost the final game to the Washington Redskins.

After that year, the rushing game and defense went from great to average. At the same time, the Dolphins had one of the best statistical quarterbacks in league history, Dan Marino. Marino appeared in only one Super Bowl, in 1985. His team lost badly to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Dolphins of the 1980s underperformed, missing many playoffs and even finishing with a losing record one year. They did, however, give the vaunted 1985 Chicago Bears their only loss of the season, preserving the franchise's record of the NFL's only perfect season.

In the 1990s, Marino led Miami to several AFC East titles, though they won no conference championships. Marino broke records for career passing yards, touchdowns, and completions. In his final season in 1999, the Dolphins made the playoffs, but lost in the divisional round, 62-7, to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was the second-worst playoff loss in NFL history.

After Marino's departure, the 2000 Miami team outperformed expectations, making it past the Wild Card round of the playoffs behind standouts such as Jason Taylor. Then, the acquisition of running back Ricky Williams energized the running game for the first time since the 1980.

However, the mid-2000s brought disaster for the Dolphins. After a series of arrests and substance abuse violations, as well as the resignation of head coach Dave Wannstedt, the team hired LSU's Nick Saban to turn the program around. In two seasons, Saban missed the playoffs and accumulated a losing record. He left in 2007 to coach at the University of Alabama.

In 2007, as the New England Patriots chased a perfect season, Miami tried to avoid the opposite fate: losing every game. They finally won their 14th game of the year, but still finished 1-15.

In recent years, the Dolphins have been sporadic winners. Head coach Tony Sparano and quarterback Chad Pennington have led the team to the playoffs, but have not won any championships. The Dolphins remain in a rebuilding phase.