Super Bowl VII — 1972 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Jake Scott, S, Miami Dolphins

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: This game completed Miami's 17-0 perfect season; Griese's low pass-attempt count (11) reflects a run-heavy game plan rather than an injury or backup situation.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl VII completed the only perfect season in modern NFL history, as the Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins 14-7 to finish 17-0, capping the sole undefeated-and-untied campaign since the league adopted a 14-game (and later 16-game) regular-season schedule. The two prior undefeated regular-season teams in NFL history, the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears, had both lost their championship games, making Miami's achievement, more than half a century later, still unmatched. Miami's defense, nicknamed the "No-Name Defense" for its lack of marquee stars relative to its opposition, controlled the game from the outset, building a 14-0 halftime lead while limiting Washington to just 49 rushing yards and 23 passing yards in the first half. Bob Griese threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Howard Twilley in the first quarter, and Jim Kiick punched in a 1-yard touchdown run in the second, while Larry Csonka powered the ground game with 112 yards on just 15 carries. Washington's offense found more traction after halftime but could not find the end zone, managing 16 first downs to Miami's 12 and actually out-possessing the Dolphins, 32:31 to 27:29, without translating the edge into points, largely due to three Redskins turnovers against Miami's two. Safety Jake Scott was named Super Bowl MVP for a defensive performance built around two interceptions totaling 63 return yards, including a spectacular 55-yard return that began inside Miami's own end zone during the fourth quarter -- only the second time a defensive player had won the award, following Chuck Howley two years earlier. Scott's interceptions repeatedly snuffed out Washington scoring chances and allowed Miami's offense to control the clock and protect the lead. The game's most infamous moment, however, belonged to the Dolphins' own special teams. With Miami up 14-0 late in the fourth quarter and coach Don Shula seeking to cap the perfect season with a shutout, kicker Garo Yepremian's 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked. Rather than simply falling on the loose ball, Yepremian scooped it up and attempted an ill-advised pass; the ball squirted out of his hands, and Washington's Mike Bass scooped up the deflection and raced 49 yards for a touchdown, cutting the margin to 14-7 with just over two minutes remaining. The blunder, forever remembered as "Garo's Gaffe," nearly cost Miami its place in history, but the Dolphins' defense held on the ensuing possessions to secure the win and the perfect season. The championship also gave Shula and the Dolphins some measure of vindication after losing Super Bowl VI to Dallas the previous year, transforming a franchise that had entered the league as a 1966 expansion team into, briefly, the standard against which every subsequent great team would be measured -- a distinction Miami would extend by winning the following year's Super Bowl as well.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Super Bowl VII
• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl Game Summaries