By: HISTORY.com Editors
1971
Published: November 04, 2021
Last Updated: January 24, 2025
On December 25, 1971, Garo Yepremian boots a 37-yard field goal in the second overtime of an AFC playoff game to give the Miami Dolphins a 27-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the longest game in NFL history. Game time elapsed for the Christmas contest: 82 minutes and 40 seconds.
"After I kicked the ball," Yepremian told reporters, "I look up at the sky and thank God for giving me the chance to kick it."
President Teddy Roosevelt, a die-hard football fan, saved the sport from collapse and helped reshape the rules to create the game we know today.
The loss was devastating for the Chiefs, who got a remarkable performance from Ed Podolak, a largely unheralded running back. He finished with 350 all-purpose yards, an NFL record for a playoff game.
Kansas City might have won were it not for a poor performance by Pro Bowl kicker Jan Stenerud. Following a long, fourth-quarter kickoff return by Podolak, the future Hall of Famer missed a 31-yard field goal attempt with 35 seconds left. In the first overtime, his 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
Said Chiefs coach Hank Stram: "It's a shame to fight that hard, play that well with them and not win."
Yepremian was confident he would make the winning kick. "I thought when we were driving I could make anything under 50 yards," he said. "On the sideline I was dying to get a chance to kick [the winning field goal]."
With the win, the Dolphins advanced to the AFC Championship Game, which they won against the Baltimore Colts, 21-0. Two weeks later, however, Miami lost in the Super Bowl, 24-3, against the Dallas Cowboys.
Miami bounced back the next season, finishing 17-0—the only perfect record in NFL history. In the Super Bowl, the Dolphins beat Washington, 14-7.
Timeline
Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on December 25th
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