This is a list of seasons completed by the National Football League (NFL)'s Miami Dolphins, an American football franchise based in the Miami metropolitan area. The list documents the season-by-season records of the Dolphins franchise from 1966 to present, including postseason records, and league awards for individual players or head coaches.
Although the Miami Dolphins were not successful before joining the NFL, from 1970 when they played their first season after the AFL–NFL merger until 2001 they were one of the most successful teams in the league, playing in the postseason on 22 occasions over those 32 years, winning 335 and tying two of 527 games for an overall win percentage of 63.75, and suffering a mere two losing seasons out of 32. Early in this period the Dolphins won their only two Super Bowls in consecutive seasons (becoming the second team to do so in the Super Bowl era), in the process achieving the only modern-day perfect season in any major professional sports league during only their third year in the NFL. Much of this success was orchestrated by coach Don Shula who joined the team in 1970 and stayed with them until his retirement in 1995.
After Shula retired in 1995, the Dolphins remained a force for six years under successors Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt, but since 2002 and especially since 2004 have fallen on harder times, reaching the postseason only twice in the eighteen seasons since, and during the mid-2000s, briefly intensifying the Dolphins-Patriots rivalry, when Nick Saban, a former Bill Belichick assistant, was hired as the Dolphins head coach in 2005; Saban spent two seasons as the head coach of the dolphins before leaving for Alabama.In 2007, they narrowly avoided an imperfect season by beating the Baltimore Ravens for their first and only win of the year. The next year, the Dolphins became the first team in NFL history to win their division following a 1–15 season; until 2020, it was the last time when the AFC East was not won by the New England Patriots. Since 2000 (the last season they won a playoff game), the Dolphins have made the postseason five times, but never progressed past the Wild Card round.
For complete team history, see History of the Miami Dolphins.
Super Bowl champions * | Conference champions # | Division champions† | Wild Card berth ^ |
Note: Records current through the end of the 2023 NFL season
1 Due to a strike-shortened season in 1982, teams were ranked by conference instead of division
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George William Wilson, Sr. was a professional football end for the Chicago Bears and later a coach for the National Football League (NFL)'s Detroit Lions and the American Football League (AFL)'s Miami Dolphins. Wilson attended and played football at Northwestern University. He went undrafted in 1937, before being signed by the Chicago Bears. Wilson played for ten seasons with the Bears, compiling overall record of 111 pass receptions, 1,342 receiving yards, and fifteen touchdowns. He was a member of the Bears during their five appearances in the National Football League Championship Game from 1940–1943 and 1946. Additionally, he was selected for the NFL All-Star Game from 1940–1942. He also played one season of professional basketball for the Chicago Bruins in 1939–40. Wilson won seven championships combined as a player and coach.
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Albert Timothy Bentley is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) and the United States Football League (USFL). Bentley began his professional career in the USFL with the Michigan Panthers and Oakland Invaders from 1984 to 1985. After the USFL folded, he played for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers from 1985 to 1992. Bentley played college football for the Miami Hurricanes.
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Michael Lee McDaniel is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). A former long-time assistant and descendant of the Shanahan coaching tree, McDaniel began his NFL coaching career as an intern for the Denver Broncos in 2005. McDaniel served as an assistant coach for the Houston Texans, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons, and San Francisco 49ers from 2017 to 2021, holding his first offensive coordinator position in 2021. McDaniel has appeared in Super Bowl LI with the Falcons in 2017, and Super Bowl LIV with the 49ers in 2020 as an assistant coach alongside Kyle Shanahan.
Adam Joseph Gase is a former American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos from 2013 to 2014, whose offense set the NFL record for points scored in 2013 and helped the team reach Super Bowl XLVIII. Following this success, Gase served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2016 to 2018 and the New York Jets from 2019 to 2020.