The 1972 Dolphins can rest easy this season, as no team finished undefeated. But the ’72-73 Dolphins? They’ve got company.
“When you look at what the Chiefs have done, you have to go back to the 72-73 Dolphins,” former NFL quarterback and current analyst Brady Quinn said on Reiter Than You. “If you exclude the Week 17 game where [the Chiefs] didn’t play their starters and you just look at the other 26 games they played, they’re 25-1 over the course of this year and dating back to last year. You have to go back to the ’72 Dolphins that went undefeated and won the Super Bowl that year and then into ’73 when they had that sort of run and streak. So what they’re doing is historic. It’s something we don’t see come along very often.”
Indeed, the Dolphins went 14-0 in 1972 and 12-2 in 1973. That’s 26-2. Excluding the Week 17 loss to the Chargers, the Chiefs are 25-1 over their last 26 games.
The last two teams that beat Mahomes – the Titans in 2019, the Raiders in 2020 – both scored 35+ points.
And barely won.
“Go back to Mahomes’ first year starting full-time,” Quinn said. “If not for [losing] a coin toss [in the AFC Championship], we’re talking about back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl appearances. I tend to believe whether it was New England or Kansas City, they both would have beat that Rams team. What they’ve got set up right now in the short-term, you’re going to hear the word – after they win this Super Bowl – start to be in the conversation of dynasty. It’s the combination of the brilliance of Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy, their staff, Mahomes’ ability [and] the speed and the pieces that they have around him.”
Indeed, Mahomes is a singular talent. But so is Travis Kelce. So is Tyreek Hill.
“They feel unstoppable, and I don’t know when it’s ever going to slow down,” Quinn said. “Usually defenses adjust; we haven’t seen that over the last three years with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. We’ve seen teams slow them down but not be able to stop and have answers for what this team’s been able to do.”