The 1990 Miami Dolphins season was the team's twenty-first season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and twenty-fifth overall. After four seasons out of the playoffs with a combined record of 30 wins and 31 losses, the Dolphins returned to postseason play for the first time since 1985 with twelve wins and four losses. They defeated the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in the Wild Card Game before being knocked out of contention by the eventual AFC champions, the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

, in the Divisional Playoff Game. 1990 marked the first time since their record 1972

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

that the Dolphins played

the New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, and merely the second in team history. The reason for this is that before the admission of

the Texans ''The Texans'' is a 1938 American Western film directed by James P. Hogan and starring Joan Bennett and Randolph Scott. The screenplay was written by Bertram Millhauser, Paul Sloane and William Wister Haines and is based on the novel ''North of ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team's division were much more influenced by table position during the previous season. Also, the scheduled game between the Giants and Dolphins in 1987 was cancelled due to a players' strike. History of the NFL's Structure and Formats
/ref> As of 2022, this was also the last time the Dolphins finished with at least twelve wins in the regular season.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

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Regular season

Schedule

Standings

Player stats

Passing

Receiving

Defense

Playoffs

AFC wild card game

With 2:28 left in the game, the Dolphins capped an 85-yard drive with quarterback

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and be ...

's winning 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Clayton.

AFC Divisional Playoff

Awards and honors

* Jeff Cross, AFC Pro Bowl selection

Milestones

* Dan Marino, 7th Consecutive 3,000 Yard Passing Season

References

Miami Dolphins on Pro Football Reference

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Miami Dolphins seasons

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

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