At some point during the next few weeks, Dick Anderson will grab a bottle of champagne, call up a few old teammates from the 1972 Miami Dolphins and propose a toast.

They’ll talk about old times, share some laughs and finally bid each other farewell, secure in the knowledge that for at least one more year their record is safe.

Or so he hopes.

Anderson is nervous, more nervous than usual at this time of year. That’s largely because he’s been watching the Indianapolis Colts play football.

This, he fears, might finally be the team that does what only his Dolphins have accomplished in the history of the NFL – finish a regular season undefeated.

“It’s entirely possible they could do it,” Anderson said. “They’re certainly capable of running the table.”

Members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins team pose at a news conference in this file photo from 1997. That gathering marked the 25th anniversary of the team that went 17-0 and beat the Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

There’s a lot of season left, of course – seven games to be exact for the Colts. And there are games fraught with peril against the likes of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Seattle.

But people are beginning to talk. Sports radio is alive with chatter. Reporters are beginning to ask The Question.

And Anderson and his former teammates are beginning to get just a little concerned.

“Records are made to be broken, and one of these days someone will do it,” Anderson said. “I hope it never happens in my lifetime, but it is certainly possible.”

Anderson was a defensive back on a Dolphins team that went 14-0 in the regular season, then added two playoff victories before capping the perfect season with a 14-7 triumph over Washington in the Super Bowl.

At the time, he and teammates such as Larry Csonka, Nick Buoniconti and Bob Griese didn’t even realize no one had done it before. They were simply trying to get back to the Super Bowl and win a ring after losing to Dallas the previous year.

It wasn’t until the Chicago Bears started the 1985 season 12-0 before being beaten by the Dolphins in a Monday night game that the record began getting attention. And it wasn’t until the 1991 Washington Redskins won their first 11 games before losing to Dallas that the former Dolphins began their annual celebration.

As rituals go, it’s not much, just some aging athletes getting together for a few drinks when the last undefeated team finally is beaten each year. Most seasons it takes place well before Thanksgiving, but this year is different.

If it’s any consolation for the ’72 Fins, the odds of the Colts winning out are slim. One bad call, one critical injury, one turnover at the wrong time, and the streak is over.

Mark Schlereth knows that better than most. He was a guard on both the 1991 Redskins team and the 1998 Denver Broncos, who came closest to matching the Dolphins by winning their first 13 games before losing, 20-16, to the New York Giants.

“The talent is so close in the NFL that you’re standing on the razor’s edge of being an elite team and being a mediocre team,” Schlereth said. “The Colts are one injury to Peyton Manning from being a .500 football team. Every team in the NFL is like that.”

Vegas oddsmakers are usually pretty good at figuring these things out and, while the Colts are an even-money favorite to win the Super Bowl, the odds are 6-1 against them going unbeaten.

Parity rules in the NFL, where even winning two in a row is an accomplishment. Nine in a row is an awfully nice streak, but winning 16 straight is just not going to happen.

It could be this week, or maybe next.

Soon, though, the champagne will be on ice in Miami.