’72 Dolphins Won’t Drink Champagne This Year; Packers Will go Undefeated

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Thursday night I was having a conversation with my friend Ken, a business associate and fellow sports nut that’s done some writing for MoonDog Sports.

Our discussion initially focused on business but then turned to sports, beginning with a query on how he felt about Theo Epstein being named general manager of his beloved Chicago Cubs.

After a few minutes talking about potential managers should Mike Quade not be retained and officially ruling out Gene Lamont (long story), Ken hit me with a startling prognostication.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team in modern NFL history to go undefeated, have sipped their last champagne because the Green Bay Packers won’t lose a game.

In case you don’t know the story, the 1972 Miami Dolphins won fourteen regular season games and three postseason games, including Super Bowl VII, to finish the season 17–0.

While it’s become an urban legend of sorts, it has often been reported that the surviving members of the ’72 Dolphins gather to drink champagne when the final undefeated team gets beat.

The last team that came ever so close to completing a season undefeated were the 2007 New England Patriots, who made it to Super Bowl XLII without losing a game but fell to the underdog New York Giants.

But according to Ken, the guru of the goalposts, the Gandhi of the gridiron, the Packers will supplant the ’72 Dolphins as the NFL’s new king of undefeated teams.

Statistically, the chances of Green Bay actually completing their season unbeaten aren’t very good. In fact, the chances of the Packers losing a game are a lot better than their chances of going undefeated.

But the possibility Green Bay can win every game still exists. Through five games, the Packers are unbeaten and at least to this point, they are clearly the best team in the NFL.

It doesn’t hurt that Aaron Rodgers has arguably become the best quarterback in pro football. He’s so unconscious right now that not even the 1985 Chicago Bears defense could stop him.

The Packers are a really good team and barring a major injury, they have everything it takes to win out.

However, I don’t see them going undefeated. But what do I know?

If the Packers do go unbeaten, the 1972 Dolphins might not be drinking champagne, but Ken will be.

We’ll be toasting his status as an oracle, a man who spends the majority of his days talking about linehaul rates and foreign trade zones that had a vision.

A man unlike us mere mortals who had a revelation and correctly predicted the Green Bay Packers will go undefeated.

All hail Ken. We genuflect before thee.