1972 Dolphins Still Perfect: Lions Beat Vikings 19-15 and the NFL's Last Unbeaten Falls
Detroit's 19-15 win over Minnesota on Sunday ended the league's last unbeaten run in Week 8 — which means the 1972 Miami Dolphins remain, for another year, the NFL's only undefeated champions.
WEST PALM BEACH — The toast can go ahead in South Florida. The Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings 19-15 on Sunday, knocking off the NFL's last unbeaten team in Week 8 and keeping the 1972 Miami Dolphins alone in football history as the league's only undefeated champions, the Palm Beach Post reported. Members of that 1972 team famously mark the moment each season when the final unbeaten falls — and this year it arrived on the first day of November, before the season was even half over.
Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown as host Detroit rallied in the NFC North showdown, Reuters reported; the Post's count had Gibbs at 153 yards on 23 carries. Minnesota came in 6-0, and Jared Goff overcame his first interception of the season to lead a seven-play, four-minute game-winning drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Jameson Williams, according to NBC Sports' winners-and-losers file. Detroit is 5-2, one game behind the Vikings in a four-team NFC North fight.
For the current Dolphins, Sunday was less kind: Miami's own game at Hard Rock Stadium ended in a 24-19 loss to New England after a 13-3 halftime lead, a result filed separately by this desk. The franchise's present may sit at 1-6, but its past remains untouched — 17-0 in 1972, and still the only perfect season the NFL has ever produced.
