The most-missed football trivia question I’ve ever asked isn’t about some obscure 1940s rule change. It’s about who holds the NFL’s all-time rushing record. Roughly a third of any room will say Walter Payton. They’ll say it with their whole chest. And when you tell them it’s Emmitt Smith, something shifts in the room. Not because they’re embarrassed, but because they realize their confidence is a terrible compass. That’s when a trivia night actually starts.
I’ve been running football trivia for years, and the person who searches for football trivia online is almost always the same person: they watch every Sunday, they’ve won their fantasy league at least once, and they think they know more than they do. I love that person. These questions are for them. Some will feel like layups. Some will feel like personal attacks. A few might genuinely teach you something about a sport you thought you’d already memorized.
Let’s go.
1. How many teams are in the NFL?
I start every football trivia night with something that makes people relax. This does the job. But I’ve had exactly one person shout “31” with complete sincerity, and the look on their face when the room turned was worth the whole evening.
2. What team has won the most Super Bowls?
This used to start fights between Steelers and Cowboys fans. Then Tom Brady went ahead and made it simple.
3. What does NFL stand for?
I include this because I once watched a man hesitate. He knew. He absolutely knew. But the hesitation was enough to make his entire table doubt him, and that’s the kind of chaos I live for.
4. Which team plays its home games at Lambeau Field?
If someone doesn’t know this, they’re about to have a rough night. But they showed up, and that counts for something.
5. How long is an NFL football field, goal line to goal line?
The trick here is that people who know football sometimes overthink it and include the end zones. The question says goal line to goal line. Read it again.
6. What jersey number did Joe Montana wear?
Some numbers become synonymous with a player. Montana’s is one of them. If you close your eyes and picture a red 49ers jersey, you already see it.
7. Which team went 16-0 in the regular season in 2007?
Every Patriots fan in the room will answer this before the question is finished. And every Giants fan will be grinning, because they know what happened next.
8. What is the name of the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner?
Named after a man, not a concept. That’s the detail that trips people up when they try to get specific.
9. Who holds the NFL record for most career passing yards?
This one changes the temperature of a room. People lock in on a name and won’t let go. I’ve seen fistfights almost start. Not really. But close.
10. What year was the first Super Bowl played?
People anchor to round numbers. They want it to be 1960 or 1970. It’s neither.
11. Which NFL team was the first to have cheerleaders?
Everyone says the Dallas Cowboys. Everyone. And they’re wrong, which is one of my favorite feelings to create in a room.
12. How many points is a safety worth?
The most underappreciated play in football. People who watch casually sometimes confuse it with a touchback. People who watch obsessively sometimes overthink and say 3.
13. Who was the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl?
This is a question that makes a room get quiet in a specific way. The answer matters beyond trivia.
14. What team drafted Tom Brady?
Easy question. But the follow-up is the real weapon.
15. In what round was Tom Brady drafted?
See? Now it’s a different question entirely. The number 199 has become its own mythology. Six quarterbacks were taken before him. All six are forgotten.
16. What is the only NFL team to go undefeated and untied for an entire season, including the playoffs and Super Bowl?
Don Shula’s champagne moment. Every year those old Dolphins reportedly pop bottles when the last undefeated team loses. Whether that’s actually true barely matters anymore. The legend is better.
17. Which quarterback has the most Super Bowl MVP awards?
At this point in any football trivia set, “Tom Brady” starts to feel like a cheat code. But it’s correct again.
18. What NFL team relocated from St. Louis back to Los Angeles in 2016?
I’ve watched St. Louis natives answer this through gritted teeth. The bitterness hasn’t faded.
19. How many players are on the field per team during a regular play?
Basic. But I’ve watched people count positions on their fingers and come up with 10 or 12. The brain does strange things under pressure.
20. How many minutes are in an NFL regulation game?
The clock says 60 minutes. The broadcast says 3 hours. The actual ball-in-play time is about 11 minutes. Football is mostly waiting, and we love it anyway.
21. What is the most points ever scored by a single team in an NFL game?
People guess high but rarely high enough. This is a number from a different era of football, when mercy was apparently not yet invented.
22. Who holds the record for most touchdowns in a single NFL season?
The year matters here. People remember the player but fight about whether it was rushing or total. It’s total.
23. How many yards is the longest field goal in NFL history?
This record keeps getting broken, and every time it does, the new number sounds fake.
24. What is the record for most receptions in a single NFL season?
Wide receivers get the glory, but the record belongs to a guy who caught short passes for a living and made it an art form.
25. Who holds the record for most career interceptions?
This record has stood since 1979 and it’s one of those numbers that feels untouchable in the modern game. Defenses just don’t get the same opportunities anymore.
26. What is the NFL record for most sacks in a single season?
This one will age, probably soon. But for now, it belongs to a man who terrorized quarterbacks like it was personal.
27. Who has the most career rushing touchdowns in NFL history?
The same guy who holds the rushing yards record. Which should make sense, but people separate the two in their heads for some reason.
28. What’s the most overtime periods played in a single NFL game?
People think overtime is one extra period and done. In the regular season, sure. But playoff overtime used to be a different animal entirely.
29. Who was the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft?
The most famous draft class in history, and the first pick wasn’t the best player. It wasn’t even close. This question is really about regret.
30. What team famously traded all of its draft picks to move up and select Ricky Williams in 1999?
Mike Ditka wore a wedding dress for the cover of a magazine to celebrate this pick. The trade gutted the franchise for years. Sometimes love is blind.
31. Which player was selected first overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, a pick widely considered one of the biggest busts in draft history?
He had all the physical tools. He had none of the rest. The gap between potential and performance has never been wider in the NFL.
32. What was the “Herschel Walker Trade”?
Not really a question with a single answer, but in a room full of football fans, just saying the name gets a reaction. The trade that built a dynasty for one team and dismantled another.
33. Who did the Indianapolis Colts select first overall in the 2012 NFL Draft, effectively ending Peyton Manning’s tenure with the team?
One franchise quarterback replacing another. It doesn’t happen this cleanly very often. In fact, it almost never does.
34. What college did Patrick Mahomes attend?
Not a traditional quarterback factory. Not even close. And that’s part of what makes the story so good.
35. Which team lost four consecutive Super Bowls?
This is one of those facts that sounds made up. Four years in a row. Four times walking off the biggest stage in American sports as the loser. The emotional toll is almost incomprehensible.
36. What was the largest margin of victory in Super Bowl history?
People remember blowouts in general terms. The specific number shocks them every time.
37. Which Super Bowl featured the famous “wardrobe malfunction” halftime show?
A moment that changed broadcast television, FCC policy, and arguably created YouTube. All from a halftime show.
38. Who caught the “Helmet Catch” in Super Bowl XLII?
The play that ended the Patriots’ perfect season. Eli Manning scrambled away from what should have been a sack, heaved the ball, and then the impossible happened.
39. In Super Bowl XLIX, who did the Seattle Seahawks throw to on the goal line instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch?
The most second-guessed play call in NFL history. Every person in the room has an opinion, and they’re all the same opinion, and they’re all still mad.
40. What was the score at halftime of Super Bowl LI before the Patriots’ historic comeback against the Falcons?
People remember 28-3. But that wasn’t the halftime score. The collapse happened in stages, and the halftime number is the one people always get wrong.
41. Which musician performed at the halftime show of Super Bowl XLVIII, the game where Seattle demolished Denver 43-8?
The game was so lopsided that the halftime show might have been the competitive highlight. Bruno Mars brought it.
42. What city has hosted the most Super Bowls?
The NFL likes warm weather and domes. This city delivers both, plus everything else the league’s corporate partners want for a week.
43. Who is the only player to win Super Bowl MVP for a losing team?
This is one of my favorite football trivia questions because the answer feels like it shouldn’t be allowed. Imagine being named the best player on the field and still losing.
44. Who is the winningest head coach in NFL history by regular season victories?
The hoodie. The scowl. The monosyllabic press conferences. Love him or hate him, the numbers are the numbers.
45. Which coach led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls?
The trophy is literally named after him. If you miss this one, the trophy itself is judging you.
46. Who was the head coach of the “Steel Curtain” Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty in the 1970s?
Four Super Bowls in six years. A defense that made offenses look like they’d forgotten the rules. And a coach who built it all from scratch.
47. What coach is famous for being carried off the field after winning Super Bowl XX with the Chicago Bears?
The 1985 Bears might be the most charismatic team in NFL history. They recorded a rap song. Their coach was a force of nature. The whole thing felt like a movie.
48. Who coached the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders and was known for his distinctive visor and aggressive style?
He also became one of the most iconic voices in sports broadcasting and the face of the Madden video game franchise. Some people know him better from the game than from actual games.
49. What is the name of the New England Patriots’ controversial practice of videotaping opposing coaches’ signals, which led to a major NFL scandal?
Two words that will get you thrown out of a bar in Boston or cheered in one, depending on which bar.
50. Before coaching the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll was the head coach at what college?
He built a dynasty there before building one in the NFL. The transition from college to pro is supposed to be harder than he made it look.
51. What is the “Immaculate Reception”?
The most debated play in NFL history. People who saw it live still argue about what actually happened. The footage is grainy enough to keep the argument alive forever.
52. What play is known as “The Catch” in NFL lore?
Two words that mean one specific thing to anyone who knows football. The play that launched a dynasty and ended another team’s era.
53. In the “Music City Miracle,” what type of play did the Tennessee Titans run to score a last-second touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in the 1999 playoffs?
Bills fans, I’m sorry. I’m bringing this up again. The wound is still open, I know.
54. What happened on the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV that kept the St. Louis Rams’ victory intact?
One yard. The difference between a tie game and a championship was exactly one yard. Sports don’t get more cruel than this.
55. What is “Deflategate”?
The scandal where the NFL spent millions of dollars investigating air pressure in footballs. The Ideal Gas Law became a talking point on ESPN. Science teachers everywhere rejoiced briefly.
56. What is the “Tuck Rule Game”?
Ask a Raiders fan about this and clear your schedule. You’re going to be there a while.
57. What is the “Minneapolis Miracle”?
The play happened in 2018, and I’ve used it in trivia ever since. People remember the moment, they remember the emotion, but they get the details fuzzy.
58. What was the name of the rival football league that merged with the NFL in 1970?
The merger shaped modern football. Without it, the Super Bowl doesn’t exist the way we know it. But people blank on the name more often than you’d expect.
59. Who is known as “Broadway Joe”?
He guaranteed a Super Bowl victory and then delivered it. In an era before athletes had PR teams, he just said what he was going to do and did it.
60. Before it was called the Super Bowl, what was the championship game between the NFL and AFL called?
The original name was so boring that a toy inspired the replacement. Seriously.
61. Who was the first Heisman Trophy winner?
This goes back to 1935. Nobody gets it. I’ve asked it hundreds of times and I can count the correct answers on one hand.
62. What team did the legendary Jim Brown play for during his entire career?
He retired at 29, arguably the greatest running back ever, and just walked away. People forget that. He chose to leave while he was still the best.
63. Who was the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl?
Another question where the room gets respectfully quiet. The answer is more recent than most people assume, and that says something.
64. What position did “Refrigerator” William Perry play?
A defensive lineman who became famous for carrying the ball on offense. The 1985 Bears loved theater as much as they loved winning.
65. What NFL team’s home stadium is located in a different state than its name suggests?
I phrase this as “name one” because there are actually a couple answers. But the most common one that gets people riled up is the obvious one.
66. What is the only NFL franchise to have never appeared in a Super Bowl?
As of the latest completed seasons, there are actually four teams that have never appeared. But one of them is the most painful to think about.
67. What is the name of the Green Bay Packers’ famous pregame tradition where players ride kids’ bikes to training camp practice?
This has no official name, but everyone who’s seen it knows exactly what you’re talking about. It’s pure Americana and it only works in Green Bay.
68. Which NFL team is the only one owned by its fans through publicly held stock?
The stock pays no dividends, can’t appreciate in value, and carries no real financial benefit. People buy it anyway, by the hundreds of thousands. That tells you everything about this fan base.
69. What team plays in the stadium known as “The Linc”?
Philly fans are a different breed, and their stadium has the energy to match.
70. What NFL team’s fans are known as the “Dawg Pound”?
The bleacher section that barks. Literally barks. If you’ve never experienced it, it sounds insane. If you have, it makes perfect sense.
71. Which stadium is known as “The House That Jerry Built”?
It cost $1.2 billion when it opened in 2009. The video board alone was 160 feet wide. Subtlety has never been Jerry Jones’ thing.
72. In the NFL, can a game end in a tie during the regular season?
People who only watch casually say no. People who watch obsessively say yes, but they can’t remember the last time it happened. It happens more than you think.
73. What is a “touchback,” and where is the ball placed after one?
The yardage changed relatively recently, and that change trips up anyone who learned the rules before 2016.
74. How many timeouts does each team get per half?
Simple. But under the pressure of a trivia night, I’ve heard “two” more times than I can count.
75. What is the “two-minute warning”?
It’s one of football’s weirdest traditions. It’s essentially a free timeout that nobody asked for, built into the game from an era when the clock on the field wasn’t reliable.
76. If a team scores a touchdown, how many points can they score on the subsequent conversion attempt?
Most people say one. Some say two. The correct answer is both, and that’s the point.
77. What is a “fair catch” on a punt?
The concept is simple. The execution of explaining it to someone who’s never watched football is surprisingly difficult.
78. In standard fantasy football scoring, how many points is a passing touchdown worth?
If you play fantasy, this is automatic. If you don’t, you’ll guess 6 because that’s what a touchdown is worth in real football. And you’ll be wrong.
79. What does “PPR” stand for in fantasy football?
This three-letter acronym determines the entire shape of a fantasy draft, and some people still don’t check their league settings before picking.
80. Who was the first overall pick in most fantasy football drafts in 2023?
The consensus 1.01 was so obvious that if you picked anyone else, your league mates judged you immediately and permanently.
81. What running back’s 2017 holdout from the Pittsburgh Steelers became a defining moment in the debate over running back contracts?
This situation changed how the entire league thinks about paying running backs. The ripple effects are still being felt.
82. What player famously said “I’m going to Disney World!” after winning the Super Bowl, starting a tradition that continues today?
The phrase has been said so many times it feels like it’s always existed. But someone said it first.
83. What player, known for his incredible career with the Baltimore Ravens, gave an emotional retirement speech after Super Bowl XLVII?
The dance. The speech. The tears. Whether you loved him or couldn’t stand him, you watched.
84. What happened during the power outage at Super Bowl XLVII?
Half the lights went out in the Superdome. For 34 minutes. During the Super Bowl. And when play resumed, the entire momentum of the game had shifted.
85. Which NFL player’s jersey was the best-selling in the league for five consecutive years from 2017 to 2021?
The answer tells you something about what football means in America beyond just the game itself.
86. What player retired mid-game during the 2019 preseason?
He walked off the field, through the tunnel, and out of the stadium while the game was still happening. It was surreal. It was also, in retrospect, one of the most honest things an athlete has ever done.
87. What was the “Butt Fumble”?
If you’re a Jets fan, you already know, and you already wish I hadn’t brought it up. If you’re not, you’re about to be very happy.
88. Which wide receiver celebrated touchdowns by pulling a Sharpie out of his sock to autograph the football?
Celebrations in the NFL used to be an art form before the league cracked down. This man was the Picasso of the end zone.
89. What is the only position on an NFL roster that, by rule, cannot be the eligible receiver on a forward pass unless they report as eligible?
This gets into the weeds of football rules, but it’s the kind of question that separates casual fans from the people who yell at referees with specific rule citations.
90. What is the “Rooney Rule”?
Named after Dan Rooney, former owner of the Steelers. The rule has been both praised as a necessary step and criticized as insufficient. That tension is the point of the question.
91. What team was known as the “Greatest Show on Turf”?
An offense so explosive it needed a nickname that sounded like a circus act. And it played like one.
92. Before becoming an NFL quarterback, Kurt Warner worked at what type of store?
The greatest underdog story in NFL history, and it starts in an aisle you’ve probably walked down yourself.
93. What is the “Terrible Towel”?
It’s a piece of gold cloth. It shouldn’t mean anything. But if you’ve ever been in Heinz Field when 65,000 of them are spinning, you understand why it does.
94. What was the XFL, and who founded it?
An entire football league built on the premise that the NFL wasn’t exciting enough. The hubris was staggering. The failure was swift. And then it came back.
95. What player caught Brett Favre’s record-breaking 421st career touchdown pass, surpassing Dan Marino’s record?
Favre broke the record on a cold night in Minnesota, which is poetic for a guy who played his best football in the cold. The receiver, though, is the part nobody remembers.
96. What is the “Philly Special”?
A play so audacious that the coach who called it and the backup quarterback who caught it became Philadelphia legends overnight. The name alone makes Eagles fans emotional.
97. What defensive player returned a fumble 100 yards for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII, the longest play in Super Bowl history at the time?
The play happened right before halftime. The runner was 330 pounds. He ran the entire length of the field. It is, without exaggeration, one of the most improbable things I’ve ever seen in football.
98. What number jersey is traditionally retired or unassigned across the NFL in honor of no specific player but out of general respect?
This is a trick question, and I love using it because people will confidently name a number. But the NFL has no league-wide retired number. Individual teams do it, but the league itself doesn’t.
99. How many NFL teams have relocated at least once in the league’s history?
This one requires you to actually count, and the number is higher than almost anyone guesses. Football’s relationship with its cities is more complicated and more transactional than the nostalgia suggests.
100. What was the final score of the first Super Bowl, and who played in it?
I always end with this one. Not because it’s the hardest question of the night, but because it brings everything back to the beginning. Every record we talked about, every scandal, every legendary play, every dynasty, every heartbreak, it all traces back to a game in January 1967 that wasn’t even sold out. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had empty seats. The game was broadcast on two networks simultaneously because neither CBS nor NBC would give up the rights. There was no Roman numeral. There was no halftime spectacle. There was just a football game between two leagues that weren’t sure they liked each other yet. And from that afternoon, all of this grew. Every question you just answered exists because of what happened on that field. I think about that sometimes when I’m standing in front of a room full of people arguing about whether the tuck rule was fair. We’re all just talking about the same game, stretching back to the same starting point. That’s the thing about football trivia. It’s not really about knowing the answers. It’s about caring enough to argue about them.
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