football players in green bay packers uniform on football field; crowd of people in stands; yellow, green and orange circles with question marks surround them

Photo Collage: MOA Staff; (Source: James Flores/Getty Images)

Huddle Up for Our Football Quiz

See if you can score a trivia touchdown

Thom Geier,

AARP

Published September 01, 2023

10 Questions

It’s that time of year: The gladiators of the National Football League are returning to the field — and to the airwaves (and streaming services) of fans around the country. But do you know an audible from a lateral? Test your knowledge of America’s favorite sport, and try not to fumble on your way to the end zone.

Huddle Up for Our Football Quiz

[ {
 "question" : "What team won the first Super Bowl in 1967?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Green Bay Packers",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "New England Patriots",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Dallas Cowboys",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Tampa Bay Buccaneers",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Green Bay’s franchise is the only sports team in the U.S. that operates as a publicly held nonprofit corporation — with 537,000 individual shareholders.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "The winner of the Super Bowl receives a seven-pound trophy named for what legendary coach?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Tom Landry",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "John Madden",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Vince Lombardi",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Paul Brown",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The Brooklyn-born Lombardi took over the ailing Green Bay Packers in 1959 and led the team to five championships, including the first two Super Bowls, in 1967 and 1968. By the time of his death in 1970, he had accumulated a .750 winning percentage (including post-season games) that no coach has matched.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What 1971 movie is set in the world of professional football?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "“Friday Night Lights”",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "“Rudy”",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "“Brian’s Song”",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "“Knute Rockne, All American”",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "“Brian’s Song” followed the true-life friendship of running backs Gale Sayers (Billie Dee Williams) and Brian Piccolo (James Caan), who both joined the Chicago Bears as rookies in 1965 and supported each other through Sayers’ recovery from a bad knee injury and Piccolo’s battle with cancer. Piccolo died in 1970 at age 26; Sayers died in 2020 at age 77.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "True or false: The 1972 Miami Dolphins achieved the only perfect season in modern NFL history, including a win in Super Bowl VII.\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "True",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "False",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Hall of Fame Coach Don Shula and quarterback Bob Griese led the Dolphins to a perfect season. That achievement has never been matched, though the 2007 New England Patriots came close, coming into Super Bowl XLII with 16 regular-season wins and two playoff victories before losing to the New York Giants.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What was the nickname of the Chicago Bears’ imposing defensive tackle William Perry?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Night Train",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The Bus",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The Refrigerator",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Megatron",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Perry, a South Carolina native who weighed 200 pounds at age 11, helped lead the 1985 Chicago Bears to its first and only Super Bowl victory. He scored a touchdown in the game and collected the largest Super Bowl ring ever produced: size 25. He later auctioned off the ring, which sold for $203,150.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What team played in four consecutive Super Bowls, from 1991 to 1994, and lost all four?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Buffalo Bills",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Cleveland Browns",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Dallas Cowboys",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Dallas Cowboys",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Some Bills fans still blame the team’s unlucky streak on its treatment of tight end Ernie Warlick, whose clutch catches helped win back-to-back American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965 (before the modern Super Bowl). But owner Ralph Wilson cut him for a younger, cheaper player in 1966 — even though Warlick was one game away from collecting a pension.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "True or false: Former quarterback Tom Brady won more NFL MVP awards than any other player.\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "True",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "False",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "That distinction goes to Peyton Manning, the second son of former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning and older brother of former New York Giants QB Eli Manning. He won five MVP awards and led the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos to two Super Bowls each in his storied 18-season career.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Where is the Pro Football Hall of Fame located?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Cooperstown, New York",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Canton, Ohio",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Chicago, Illinois",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in 1963 and has welcomed more than 10 million visitors. Some of the items on display include a Super Bowl ring collection, Tom Brady’s original draft card and Joe Montana’s Super Bowl XIX jersey.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What former Dallas Cowboys running back won Season 3 of “Dancing with the Stars”?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Emmitt Smith",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Dick Butkus",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Terry Bradshaw",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Joe Greene",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "At 5 foot 9, Emmitt Smith was considered by many Dallas scouts to be too small and too slow for the NFL. But he proved them wrong, helping the team to win three Super Bowls in the 1990s. And his fancy footwork also earned him a win on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2006 with partner Cheryl Burke.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What veteran play-by-play announcer anchored “Monday Night Football” from 1986-2005 and is also known for calling the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game at the 1980 Winter Olympics?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Al Michaels",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Bob Costas",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Marv Albert",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Keith Olbermann",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Michaels became the center of one of the most unusual trades in sports in 2016 when “Monday Night Football” shifted from Disney-owned ABC to ESPN (which forfeited “Sunday Night Football” to NBC). Disney CEO Bob Iger allowed Michaels to join the NBC broadcast team if parent company NBC Universal forfeited rights to Walt Disney’s first character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. “Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice,” Michaels said. “I'm going to be a trivia answer someday.”\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Huddle Up for Our Football Quiz

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Thom Geier is an award-winning writer and editor with a passion for American pop culture. He served as executive editor of the digital news site TheWrap.com and as a senior editor at Entertainment Weekly, where he oversaw coverage of movies, theater and books. His essays and reviews appear regularly on CultureSauce.net.