Don Shula

In their third and fourth seasons under Shula's direction, the Colts compiled still-impressive records of 10-3-1 and 9-5, respectively. In 1967 the Colts barreled back with a record of 11-1-2 but again failed to make it to the Super Bowl. Shula's dream of coaching a team into the Super Bowl came true in 1968. On the strength of an extraordinary 13-1 record in the regular season, the Colts faced off against the New York Jets in Super Bowl III but were handed an upset by the New Yorkers. In his final season with the Colts, Shula coached the Baltimore team to a winning—but disappointing—record of 8-5-1 in 1969. Looking for a new challenge, Shula turned his attention southward. In 1970 he signed on as new head coach of the Miami Dolphins, which had ended its 1969 season with a dismal record of 3-10-1.

Shula quickly turned things around in Miami, coaching the Dolphins to winning records of 10-4 and 10-3-1 his first two seasons with the team. The Dolphins capped off their 1971 season with a visit to the Super Bowl, where they lost, 24-3, to the Dallas Cowboys. In 1972 Shula's Dolphins turned in a perfect 14-0 regular season (with another three wins in the playoffs), an achievement that has never been duplicated in NFL history. Miami then went on to win its first Super Bowl, defeating the Redskins, 14-7. After compiling a record of 12-2 in the regular 1973 season, the Dolphins powered their way back to the Super Bowl where they crushed the Minnesota Vikings, 24-7. Shula's greatest glory as a coach came during the early 1970s as he coached the Dolphins through sixty-two consecutive games without a single back-to-back loss, earning a record of 53-9 for the period.