The NFL has existed for over a hundred years, and in that time it’s produced exactly one perfect season. Not two. Not “a couple depending on how you count it.” One. And I’ve watched entire tables of football fans argue about that for ten minutes before someone finally Googles it. That’s the thing about NFL trivia. People who love football are absolutely certain they know football, and that certainty is what makes them so much fun to quiz.
I’ve run these questions at sports bars during bye weeks, at Super Bowl parties where the game turned into a blowout, and at office events where the quiet person in accounting turned out to know more about the 1985 Bears than anyone in the room. The person who searches for NFL trivia already knows the basics. They can name the last five Super Bowl winners. They know Tom Brady’s jersey number. So I’m not going to waste their time with that. These 75 questions are built to hit the sweet spot between “I definitely know this” and “wait, that can’t be right.”
The Ones That Feel Easy Until They Don’t
1. Which team has won the most Super Bowls in NFL history?
Everyone’s got an answer locked in immediately. The debate is usually between two teams, and for years there was a clear winner. Then things changed.
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The New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers are tied with 6 each. A lot of people confidently say the Steelers because they held the record alone for so long, but Brady’s final ring in Tampa didn’t count for New England. The tie itself surprises people.
2. What NFL team plays its home games at Lambeau Field?
This is a gimme, and every good set needs a few of those early. Lets people settle in and feel smart before you take the floor out from under them.
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The Green Bay Packers
3. How many teams are in the NFL?
I love this question because people pause. They know they know it. But the number doesn’t come as fast as they expect.
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32. The most common wrong answer is 30 or 31, usually from people mixing it up with MLB’s 30 teams.
4. Which quarterback holds the record for most career touchdown passes?
This used to be a real question. Now it’s basically a vocabulary test for whether you’ve watched football in the last decade.
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Tom Brady, with 649. Peyton Manning held it before him at 539, and the gap between them is genuinely absurd.
5. What year was the first Super Bowl played?
People who know it was the ’60s usually guess 1965. People who know it wasn’t 1965 usually guess 1968. The actual answer sits right between the two most popular guesses.
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1967. The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. It wasn’t even called the “Super Bowl” officially at the time.
6. Which running back holds the NFL’s all-time career rushing record?
This is one where the room splits generationally. Older fans lock in immediately. Younger ones sometimes guess wrong.
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Emmitt Smith, with 18,355 yards. Walter Payton held the record before him, and a lot of people still say Payton first out of respect or habit.
7. What does “NFL” stand for?
I include this at live events purely as a palate cleanser. Nobody gets it wrong, but it resets the energy after a hard stretch.
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National Football League
The Kind That Make You Second-Guess Yourself
8. Which team won Super Bowl I but was NOT from the NFL at the time?
Wait. Read that again. The trick is in the framing. The game was between the NFL champion and the AFL champion.
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This is a trick question. The Kansas City Chiefs were the AFL representatives who LOST Super Bowl I. The Packers, who won, were the NFL team. No team won Super Bowl I from outside the NFL. If you said the Chiefs, you mixed up the winner and the loser. If you said “none,” you got it right and you should feel good about that.
9. Who was the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft?
1998 is one of the most famous draft classes ever, and the reason it’s famous is the answer to this question.
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Peyton Manning, selected by the Indianapolis Colts. Ryan Leaf went second to the Chargers. It’s the most famous “what if they’d picked the other guy” in draft history, and the Colts got it right.
10. How many points is a safety worth?
Casual fans blank on this one. Even serious fans sometimes hesitate, because safeties are rare enough that the number doesn’t stick the way “six for a touchdown” does.
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2 points. And the team that scores the safety also gets the ball back via a free kick, which is a detail that surprises a lot of people.
11. Which franchise has lost the most Super Bowls without ever winning one?
This is the kind of question that makes a fan base flinch. And the answer makes them flinch harder.
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The Minnesota Vikings, who are 0-4 in Super Bowls. The Buffalo Bills also went 0-4, but they did it in four consecutive years (1991-1994), which is its own kind of legendary pain.
12. What jersey number did Joe Montana wear?
Montana is one of those players everyone claims to remember watching, so this separates the real memories from the borrowed ones.
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16. He wore it with both the 49ers and the Chiefs.
13. Which NFL team was the last to integrate, not signing a Black player until 1962?
This question changes the temperature of a room. It should. The answer matters beyond trivia.
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The Washington Redskins (now Commanders). Owner George Preston Marshall resisted integration until the federal government pressured him by threatening to revoke the lease on the new stadium built on federal land. Bobby Mitchell became the team’s first Black player.
14. What is the only NFL team to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl in the same season?
This is the one I mentioned at the top. People are sure there’s been more than one. There hasn’t.
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The 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went 17-0. The 2007 Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season but lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants, which is why “perfect season” has an asterisk in some arguments and not others.
15. Who caught the “Immaculate Reception” in 1972?
One of the most replayed moments in NFL history, and I’ve seen people confuse the catcher with the intended receiver.
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Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The ball deflected off either Jack Tatum or Frenchy Fuqua (still debated), and Harris scooped it just before it hit the ground. Or didn’t. Depending on who you ask.
Numbers That Don’t Feel Right
16. How long is an NFL football field, including both end zones?
The playing field is 100 yards. But the question says “including both end zones,” and that’s where people start doing math they weren’t prepared for.
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120 yards (360 feet). Each end zone is 10 yards deep. People who say 100 forgot the end zones. People who say 110 only counted one.
17. What is the longest play possible in the NFL, in yards?
Think about it. A player could theoretically run from the back of one end zone to the other.
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99 yards. You can’t have a 100-yard play because the line of scrimmage can’t be on the goal line (that would be a safety or a touchdown). So a 99-yard touchdown is the max for a play from scrimmage. But a missed field goal returned from the back of the end zone could technically cover 109 yards.
18. How many rounds are in the modern NFL Draft?
Casual fans guess way too high. Hardcore fans know this instantly.
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7 rounds. It used to be much longer. In 1936, the draft had 9 rounds. In the 1960s, some drafts went over 20 rounds.
19. What is the most points ever scored by one team in a single NFL game?
People always guess too low on this. They think of a blowout they’ve seen, add a couple touchdowns, and land somewhere around 60.
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73 points, scored by the Chicago Bears against the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game. The final score was 73-0. It’s been over 80 years and nobody’s come close.
20. How many players are on the field per team during a regular play?
Another one that feels too easy to ask, but I’ve seen people say 12 with absolute confidence.
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11. Having 12 men on the field is a penalty, and it happens more often than you’d think at the professional level.
21. Who holds the record for most receiving yards in a single NFL season?
The name that comes to mind first for most people is probably wrong.
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Calvin Johnson, with 1,964 yards in 2012. Most people guess Jerry Rice, who is the career leader but never had the single-season record. Megatron’s best season is one of those stats that makes you realize how dominant he was before injuries and the Lions wore him down.
22. What is the diameter of a regulation NFL football at its widest point, to the nearest inch?
Nobody knows this. It’s a beautiful guess question because people have held footballs their entire lives and still can’t picture the measurement.
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About 7 inches (the short circumference is 21 inches). Most people guess too large because they’re thinking of circumference, not diameter.
Coaches, Owners, and the People Who Never Played a Snap
23. Who is the NFL’s all-time winningest head coach by regular season victories?
This one shifted recently and a lot of fans haven’t updated their mental records.
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Bill Belichick, who surpassed Don Shula’s record of 328 regular season wins in 2024 when combining his records across teams. However, this is a genuinely contested answer. If you count only regular season wins with one methodology, some argue Shula still leads. The NFL’s own record-keeping has been debated. In a live room, I accept either name and use it to start a conversation.
24. Which owner moved the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis in the middle of the night in 1984?
One of the most infamous moments in franchise history. Mayflower moving trucks in the snow. It reads like fiction.
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Robert Irsay. He loaded up the team’s equipment in Mayflower trucks during a snowstorm on March 29, 1984, and drove them to Indianapolis overnight. Baltimore didn’t get another NFL team until the Ravens arrived in 1996, which were themselves relocated from Cleveland.
25. Who was the head coach of the New England Patriots for their first Super Bowl win?
Everyone says Belichick. Everyone’s right. But the follow-up question is what makes it interesting.
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Bill Belichick, Super Bowl XXXVI after the 2001 season. The Patriots beat the heavily favored St. Louis Rams 20-17. Tom Brady was a second-year player who’d taken over for the injured Drew Bledsoe.
26. Who is the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl?
People guess Sean McVay. He’s not even close.
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Mike Tomlin, who was 36 years old when the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII after the 2008 season. Sean McVay was 36 when he won Super Bowl LVI, tying Tomlin. But Tomlin was actually a few months younger at the time of his win.
27. What former NFL coach has a signature steak named after him at Morton’s Steakhouse?
This is a deep cut and I love asking it because it has nothing to do with football and everything to do with personality.
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John Madden. The “Madden” is a 48-ounce porterhouse. He was famously afraid of flying and traveled the country in a custom bus, stopping at restaurants along the way. The man contained multitudes.
Super Bowl Specifics
28. Which Super Bowl is widely considered the greatest of all time?
Subjective, sure. But ask this in any room and one answer dominates.
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Super Bowl LI (51), where the Patriots came back from 28-3 against the Atlanta Falcons to win 34-28 in overtime. It was the first Super Bowl to go to overtime. Whether it’s the “greatest” depends on which side you were on.
29. Who is the only player to win Super Bowl MVP for a losing team?
This fact sounds made up. It’s not. And the circumstances make it even stranger.
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Chuck Howley of the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V. The Cowboys lost to the Colts 16-13, but Howley had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. The voting happened before the game was decided, which partially explains it. Still the only time it’s happened.
30. What was the first Super Bowl played in a stadium with a dome?
Most people have no framework for this at all. It’s a pure guess, and the guesses are all over the place.
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Super Bowl VIII in 1974, played at Rice Stadium. Wait, that’s wrong. It was actually Super Bowl XII in 1978 at the Louisiana Superdome. The Superdome has hosted more Super Bowls than any other venue.
31. Which musical artist performed at the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show of all time by viewership?
People always guess based on who they think is the biggest artist. The answer is about timing and the game itself.
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Katy Perry at Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, with approximately 120.7 million viewers. The game was Patriots vs. Seahawks, and the combination of a tight game and Perry’s production (remember Left Shark?) kept eyes on screens.
32. How many Super Bowls have been decided by 3 points or fewer?
I’ll give you a range. Is it closer to 5 or closer to 15?
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Around 13, depending on whether you include overtime games. The Super Bowl has produced a surprising number of close finishes, which goes against the popular belief that they’re usually blowouts. Both narratives have truth in them.
33. Which team won back-to-back Super Bowls most recently?
The repeat has become almost mythical in modern football. The salary cap makes it brutally hard.
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The New England Patriots, winning Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX after the 2003 and 2004 seasons. That was two decades ago. No team has done it since, though the Chiefs came close in 2024-2025.
34. What Super Bowl featured the famous “Helmet Catch” by David Tyree?
If you’re a Patriots fan, you already felt something reading that name.
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Super Bowl XLII (42), February 2008. The Giants beat the previously undefeated Patriots 17-14. Tyree pinned the ball against his helmet while falling backward with Rodney Harrison draped over him. He had 4 career touchdown catches. That one wasn’t a touchdown, but it mattered more than all of them combined.
The Draft and the Deals
35. Who was the first overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft?
2007 is one of those drafts where the first pick is a footnote and the later picks became legends.
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JaMarcus Russell, picked by the Oakland Raiders. He’s widely considered the biggest bust in NFL draft history. Meanwhile, Calvin Johnson went second, and Joe Thomas went third. Russell was out of the league by 2009.
36. Tom Brady was drafted in what round?
Everyone knows this story. But the specific round number still catches people who think they remember.
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The 6th round, pick 199 overall, in the 2000 NFL Draft. He was the seventh quarterback taken that year. The six taken before him combined for far fewer career wins than Brady alone.
37. Which team drafted Brett Favre?
Not the team you think of when you think of Brett Favre. That’s the whole point of the question.
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The Atlanta Falcons, in the second round of the 1991 draft. He was traded to the Packers the following year for a first-round pick. Atlanta’s loss became Green Bay’s identity for two decades.
38. In what year was the NFL Draft first televised?
The draft is now a multi-day prime-time spectacle. It wasn’t always that way.
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1980, on ESPN. It was one of the network’s first major programming decisions. The idea that people would watch men reading names off cards seemed absurd at the time. Now it draws millions.
39. Which Heisman Trophy winner was drafted first overall but never played a regular season NFL game?
This is a hard one, and the story behind it is heartbreaking.
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Ernie Davis, who won the Heisman in 1961 and was drafted first overall by the Redskins, then immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns. He was diagnosed with leukemia before the 1962 season and passed away in 1963 at age 23. He never played a professional game.
Positions and Records That Sound Wrong
40. Who holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season?
People split between two names on this one, and neither guess is usually right.
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Michael Strahan, with 22.5 sacks in 2001. The controversial final sack, where Brett Favre appeared to slide into Strahan, is still debated. T.J. Watt tied the record in 2021 with 22.5 as well. Most people guess Lawrence Taylor or Reggie White.
41. Who is the NFL’s all-time leading scorer?
It’s a kicker. It’s always a kicker. And yet people guess a skill position player every single time.
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Adam Vinatieri, with 2,673 points over his career. He played for 24 seasons between the Patriots and Colts. The all-time scoring list is dominated by kickers because they score on nearly every drive. Morten Andersen and Gary Anderson are right behind him.
42. What quarterback has been sacked the most times in NFL history?
The answer tells you something about longevity, not just bad offensive lines.
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Tom Brady, with 565 career sacks. Ben Roethlisberger is second. Brady played so many games that he accumulated this record despite being famously quick with his release. Volume is undefeated.
43. Which wide receiver holds the record for most receptions in a single season?
The modern passing game has inflated these numbers, so the answer is relatively recent.
Show Answer
Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints, with 149 receptions in 2019. Marvin Harrison held the previous record at 143 set in 2002. Thomas was targeted an absurd number of times that year in Sean Payton’s offense.
44. Who was the first defensive player to win the NFL MVP award?
Defensive players almost never win MVP, which makes the ones who did even more memorable.
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Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings in 1971. Lawrence Taylor won it in 1986, and those remain the only two defensive players to win the AP NFL MVP. The award has an overwhelming quarterback bias that shows no signs of changing.
45. What is the NFL record for most passing yards in a single game?
The number is higher than people expect. Way higher.
Show Answer
554 yards, thrown by Norm Van Brocklin of the Los Angeles Rams in 1951. The fact that this record has stood for over 70 years, through all the rule changes favoring passing, is one of the most remarkable stats in football. Warren Moon came close with 527 in 1990.
Franchises and the Cities That Love (or Loved) Them
46. Which NFL franchise was originally known as the Decatur Staleys?
This goes back to the leather helmet days, and the answer connects to one of the league’s most iconic teams.
Show Answer
The Chicago Bears. George Halas moved the team from Decatur, Illinois, to Chicago in 1921 and renamed them the Bears in 1922. The Staleys were named after the A.E. Staley food starch company that sponsored the team.
47. Which current NFL team has the longest active playoff drought?
This changes year to year, but the answer as of recent seasons is painful for one particular fan base.
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The New York Jets, whose drought has stretched to over a decade. The Jets’ last playoff appearance was in 2010. But droughts shift constantly in the NFL. The real answer here is to check the current year and watch a Jets fan’s face.
48. What NFL team plays its home games furthest west?
The obvious answer is the team in Los Angeles. But think about it for a second.
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The Seattle Seahawks. Seattle is further west than both Los Angeles and San Francisco. People forget that the Pacific Northwest extends further west than most of California. If we’re counting teams that play in the NFL internationally, the Jaguars’ London games would technically be the furthest east, not west.
49. Which team has appeared in the most Super Bowls?
Appearances, not wins. That distinction changes the answer for a lot of people.
Show Answer
The New England Patriots, with 11 Super Bowl appearances. The Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers are next with 8 each. The Patriots’ dynasty under Brady and Belichick stacked those appearances over two decades.
50. What city has NFL teams in two different conferences?
There are a couple correct answers here, but one jumps out immediately if you think about it.
Show Answer
Los Angeles (Rams in the NFC, Chargers in the AFC) and New York (Giants in the NFC, Jets in the AFC). Both the New York teams technically play in New Jersey, which is its own fun argument to start.
Rules Lawyers and Weird Plays
51. What is a “fair catch kick” in the NFL?
Most NFL fans have never heard of this rule. When I explain it at events, people think I’m making it up.
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After a fair catch, the receiving team can attempt a free kick (essentially an unblocked field goal) from the spot of the catch. It’s almost never attempted because the situations where it makes sense are incredibly rare. The last successful one in the NFL was in 1976.
52. What is the “Tuck Rule” and which famous play did it affect?
If you’re a Raiders fan, you can skip this one. You already know, and it still hurts.
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The Tuck Rule stated that if a quarterback’s arm was moving forward during a pass attempt and the ball came loose, it was an incomplete pass, not a fumble, even if the quarterback was “tucking” the ball back. It was invoked during the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff when Tom Brady appeared to fumble against the Raiders. The play was overturned, the Patriots kept the ball, kicked a game-tying field goal, and won in overtime. The rule was abolished in 2013.
53. How many timeouts does each team get per half?
Basic, but I’ve seen people argue about this one. Confidently.
Show Answer
3 timeouts per half. They do not carry over. This is one of those facts that people know but occasionally doubt when asked directly, which is my favorite kind of trivia question.
54. What is the penalty for an illegal forward pass thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage?
Specifics of penalties are where even devoted fans start guessing.
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Loss of 5 yards from the spot of the foul and loss of down. If it’s intercepted, the defense can still take the result of the play. People often think it’s a 10-yard penalty, mixing it up with intentional grounding.
55. In what year did the NFL adopt instant replay review for the first time?
The NFL has had a complicated on-again, off-again relationship with replay. Most fans think it started later than it did.
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1986. The system was used from 1986 to 1991, then scrapped, then brought back in 1999 in its current challenge-flag form. The technology was clunky the first time around, and officials didn’t trust it.
The Ones You Either Know Instantly or Not at All
56. What is the “Terrible Towel” and which team’s fans wave it?
If you know, you didn’t even finish reading the question.
Show Answer
The Pittsburgh Steelers. The Terrible Towel was created by broadcaster Myron Cope in 1975 as a rally towel for the playoffs. Royalties from its sale go to the Allegheny Valley School, which serves people with intellectual disabilities. It’s one of the most recognizable fan traditions in all of sports.
57. What player was known as “The Minister of Defense”?
Great nicknames are an art form the NFL used to be better at.
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Reggie White. He was an ordained minister and one of the most dominant defensive players in history. He played for the Eagles, Packers, and Panthers, and finished with 198 career sacks.
58. Which NFL stadium is known as “The Linc”?
Stadium nicknames are either obvious or impossible. No middle ground.
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Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. Named after Lincoln Financial Group, which purchased naming rights in 2002.
59. What team did Peyton Manning play for in his final NFL season?
He won a Super Bowl that year, and people still sometimes forget which team he was on when he did it.
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The Denver Broncos. Manning won Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season. His arm was clearly diminished, and the Broncos’ historically great defense carried the team. He retired immediately after the win.
60. Who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history?
Deep cut. Nobody gets this without either knowing it cold or making a lucky guess.
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Max McGee of the Green Bay Packers, on a 37-yard reception from Bart Starr in Super Bowl I. McGee wasn’t even supposed to start. He’d been out partying the night before because he didn’t expect to play, then got called in when Boyd Dowler got injured on the first series. He caught 7 passes for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns while hungover.
Modern Era Brain Teasers
61. Patrick Mahomes was drafted by the Chiefs with what overall pick in 2017?
The Chiefs traded up to get him. That trade is looking like the best in modern NFL history.
Show Answer
10th overall. The Chiefs traded up from 27th to get him. Mitchell Trubisky went 2nd overall to the Bears that year, and Deshaun Watson went 12th to the Texans. The 2017 quarterback class is a fascinating study in how differently careers can unfold.
62. Which team ended the Patriots’ 21-game winning streak in 2004?
The streak was the longest in NFL history at the time. The team that broke it was a Monday Night Football opponent.
Show Answer
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who beat the Patriots 34-20 on October 31, 2004. The Steelers were 15-1 that year. Ironically, the Patriots beat them in the AFC Championship Game later that season.
63. Who caught the “Minneapolis Miracle” in the 2017 NFC Divisional Playoff?
One of those plays where the announcer’s call is burned into your memory whether you’re a fan of either team or not.
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Stefon Diggs, who caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from Case Keenum as time expired to beat the Saints 29-24. The Saints defender, Marcus Williams, missed the tackle completely. Diggs ran untouched into the end zone. Joe Buck’s call: “Diggs! Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable!”
64. What team did the Colts famously lose to in the 2021 season finale, costing them a playoff spot?
This is a question about the worst loss in recent memory for a team that just needed to win one game.
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The Jacksonville Jaguars, who were 2-14 at the time. The Colts lost 26-11 in a game where a win would have clinched a playoff berth. The Jaguars had nothing to play for. It was one of the most embarrassing losses in recent NFL history and contributed to the end of the Carson Wentz era in Indianapolis.
65. Who was the first quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards in a single season?
In the modern era, 5,000 yards happens every few years. But the first time it happened felt impossible.
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Dan Marino, with 5,084 yards in 1984. The record stood for 27 years until Drew Brees broke it in 2011. Marino did it in an era with far fewer passing-friendly rules, which is why old-school fans hold his season in a different category.
66. What was the score of Super Bowl XLVIII between the Seahawks and Broncos?
You might not remember the exact score, but you remember the feeling. It was over before halftime.
Show Answer
43-8, Seahawks. The Broncos, who had set offensive records that season with Peyton Manning, scored 8 points. The first play from scrimmage was a safety. It remains the most lopsided Super Bowl of the modern era.
The Deep End
67. What was the original name of the AFC Championship trophy before it was renamed?
Both conference championship trophies are named after people. Most fans can name one but not both.
Show Answer
The Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of the AFL and the Kansas City Chiefs. The NFC Championship trophy is the George Halas Trophy. Hunt is also credited with coining the term “Super Bowl.”
68. Which NFL team was the first to put a logo on its helmet?
The helmet logo is so standard now that it’s weird to imagine a time without them.
Show Answer
The Los Angeles Rams, in 1948. Halfback Fred Gehrke, who was also a painter, hand-painted ram horns on the leather helmets. The Cleveland Browns remain the only current team without a logo on their helmet, which is itself a kind of logo.
69. What player holds the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown reception?
Consistency over a stretch like this requires both talent and health, which makes the record even harder to approach.
Show Answer
Jerry Rice, with a touchdown reception in 13 consecutive games in 1986-87. In an era of heavy defensive contact and fewer passing attempts, that streak was remarkable. Several players have come close but nobody’s matched it.
70. What is the only NFL franchise to have played in four different decades’ worth of Super Bowls and lost all of them?
This question is cruel. I love it.
Show Answer
The Minnesota Vikings, who lost Super Bowls in the 1969, 1973, 1974, and 1976 seasons (played in January of the following years, spanning the late ’60s through mid-’70s). Actually, those were all within a relatively tight window. The Bills’ four straight losses from 1990-93 are the more famous drought. This question is designed to start an argument about which fan base has suffered more.
71. Who was the NFL’s first $100 million man, signing the first contract worth over $100 million?
Contract milestones feel quaint in hindsight. But at the time, this one was seismic.
Show Answer
Michael Vick, who signed a 10-year, $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in 2004. The deal included $37 million in guarantees. Two years later, everything changed. Current NFL contracts make that number look modest, but in 2004 it was unprecedented.
72. What is the only position in football where the player is legally required to be on the line of scrimmage?
This is a rules question that even coaches sometimes have to think about.
Show Answer
The center. Every other position’s alignment can vary depending on the formation, but the center must be on the line of scrimmage to snap the ball. There must be at least 7 players on the line, but only the center is required to be one of them by the nature of the position.
73. Which NFL game is known as “The Ice Bowl” and what was the temperature at kickoff?
The name gives away the basic fact. The temperature is the part that makes people’s jaws drop.
Show Answer
The 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Packers and Cowboys at Lambeau Field. The temperature at kickoff was -13°F (-25°C), with a wind chill of -48°F. The field’s heating system malfunctioned. Bart Starr scored on a quarterback sneak with 16 seconds left to win 21-17. Referees couldn’t use their metal whistles because they stuck to their lips.
74. How many NFL teams have never appeared in a Super Bowl?
People always underestimate this number. The Super Bowl is over 50 years old, and some teams have never made it.
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Four teams have never appeared: the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans. The Browns and Lions are the ones that sting the most, given how long they’ve existed. The Jaguars and Texans are relatively young franchises, but Lions fans have been waiting since before the Super Bowl existed. Detroit won NFL Championships in the 1950s but has never reached the big game in the Super Bowl era.
75. What was the final NFL game ever played at the old Yankee Stadium?
I save this one for last because it connects football to something bigger. The stadium, the history, the overlap between two sports that shared the same sacred ground.
Most people think of Yankee Stadium as a baseball cathedral. They forget that the New York Giants played there for decades, that it hosted some of the most famous football games ever played, and that when the old stadium closed, a piece of NFL history went with it.
Show Answer
A regular season Giants game on December 23, 1973. The Giants lost to the Eagles 20-7. The Giants moved to the Meadowlands in New Jersey after that, and the old Yankee Stadium was renovated and continued as a baseball-only venue. But for 50 years, professional football lived in the House That Ruth Built. The last NFL play in that stadium was an unremarkable loss on a cold December afternoon, and nobody in the stands knew they were watching the end of something. That’s usually how it works.
Sports trivia is the one round where confidence often gets punished. I've spent 14 years writing from Zurich, Switzerland specifically to catch the people who think they know everything about their sport.
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