Miami ? In keeping with their annual ritual, Nick Buoniconti and former teammate Dick Anderson will share champagne at a Coral Gables country club this week.

Here’s to the 1972 Miami Dolphins; and here’s to the 2003 Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals handed Kansas City its first loss of the season Sunday, leaving the NFL with no unbeaten teams. For at least another year, the ’72 Dolphins’ perfect season will remain a unique achievement.

“The magnitude of our undefeated team has never been fully appreciated,” said Buoniconti, a Hall of Fame linebacker. “It’s the greatest single team record in the history of sports. It continues to stand as the most difficult team record to tie.”

Buoniconti, Anderson and Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese are among the members of the ’72 team who still live in South Florida.

“I won’t have champagne like Buoniconti and Anderson,” Griese said. “I’m a beer-and-pretzel guy. I’m from Indiana. But I’ll celebrate. … We’re tickled to death it’s still intact.”

No team ever has finished the regular season unbeaten since the Dolphins went 17-0 in 1972. The Chiefs, trying to become the first team to start 10-0 since Denver in 1998, lost to the Bengals, 24-19.

“They still had a long way to go,” Buoniconti said. “Having been through it, I know what a real grind it is.”

Don Shula, who coached the 1972 Dolphins, said Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil deserves credit for the job he has done, despite Sunday’s defeat.

“If they had gone undefeated, I would have been the first to congratulate Dick,” Shula said. “I think their loss today shows how tough it is to go undefeated in the league and again highlights the unique accomplishment of that ’72 team.”