Shula became the only coach to guide an NFL team through a perfect season when the 1972 Dolphins went 17-0. They won the Super Bowl again the following season, finishing 15-2.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins became the first -- and, so far, only -- team in NFL history to put together a perfect season. Cameron Wolfe talks to the people who lived it about the twists and turns ...

Shula coached the 1972 Dolphins to a 17-0 record, still the only perfect season in NFL history. The Patriots can finish 19-0 if they beat the Giants next week.

MIAMI (AP) — Don Shula has been about longevity for, well, a long time. He entered the NFL as a player in 1951 and retired in 1995 after coaching the Miami Dolphins for 26 years.

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula on the field before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) ...

Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula bites his lip as he watches his team go down to defeat on Sunday, Jan. 16, 1972 in the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Dallas won 24-3.

Don Shula, 86, remains the NFL's all-time winningest coach. He coached the Dolphins for 26 seasons and won two Super Bowls, which included the league's only perfect season in 1972.

In 1970, Shula was hired by former Dolphins owner Joe Robbie and spent 26 seasons leading the team to a total of five Super Bowl appearances – including three straight from 1971 to 1973 – that ...

Many of the 1972 Dolphins say they'll salute the Patriots if they finish 19-0. "We really aren't a bunch of angry old men," coach Don Shula said. "It had been a great, meaningful record for us. But if ...