Following a 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, Mike McDaniel’s firing by the Miami Dolphins looks like a matter of when rather than if.
McDaniel said after the game he’s not focused on keeping his job.
At 1-6, the Dolphins could slide even further with a difficult slate ahead.
Life on the NFL hot seat surely represents an extreme test of focus. The sharks are circling. The pre-game gossip has intensified. The locker room is looking for clues.
People are asking questions – especially after the most embarrassing loss of the season.
This is where Mike McDaniel sits about now as the narrative persists – and the NFL’s pressure-cooker business cycle suggests – that it is a matter of when and not if Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross will fire his coach.
The Dolphins were blasted 31-6 at Cleveland on Sunday, losing a third consecutive game to fall to 1-6. Nearly a week since Tennessee Titans coach Brian Callahan became the first NFL coach dismissed this season, it’s fair to wonder whether McDaniel’s tenure is in the final days…or hours.
At least we can wonder. McDaniel won’t go there – at least not publicly.
“The way I look at this job, I find it very offensive to all parties involved, if I’m thinking about having the job,” he said during his postgame news conference. “So, for as long as I coach for the Miami Dolphins and this organization, they’ll get everything from me, and I refuse to spend my time thinking about something…you have a job, you do your job.”
Still, performances like the one his team had on Sunday only add to the heat. A week after a last-minute meltdown set up the Chargers for a game-winning field goal, and two weeks since the Dolphins blew a 17-0 lead at Carolina, it had to be the worst one yet.
Sure, the setback at Buffalo in Week 3 was rather tragic – a roughing the kicker penalty extending a Bills drive that ended with a TD, then Tua Tagovailoa threw a pick – but this was a chance to rally against an opponent that entered the game with, well, one victory on the season while starting a rookie quarterback.
Never mind. Tagovailoa threw three interceptions and was benched with his career-worst passer rating (24.1), which seems even worse when considering that the quarterback publicly ripped some of his teammates about their lack of presence or punctuality to players-only meetings. Yet Tagovailoa’s issues only begins to represent the mess.
Remember that major storm forecast to hit Cleveland during the game? Well, it wasn’t as devastating as it might have been – except for the downpour of disaster dumped on the Dolphins.
Besides Tagovailoa’s turnovers, including a pick-six to open the second half, Dee Eskridge fumbled away a kickoff return to set up a Browns touchdown. Miami was penalized 11 times for 103 yards. And there was more. Dropped passes. Missed tackles.
All in all, it was another reminder from Miami that bad teams do bad things.
“A game like this, we didn’t see coming,” McDaniel said.
Maybe not, given that they lost the previous two games by a combined total of five points. But the clues for such a collapse have been all around McDaniel, in his fourth season at the helm. I mean, how many players-only meetings have they had? How many picks did Tagovailoa throw last week? How long has the temperature been rising on the hot seat?
No, the Dolphins have been building toward the possibility of a collapse.
Hey, they aren’t alone in the bad football department. The Las Vegas Raiders, with Chip Kelly calling the shots on offense, managed all of 95 yards and three first downs, in getting shut out at Kansas City. The Giants allowed the Broncos to score 33 points for a historic comeback. The Jets (0-7) couldn’t score a touchdown (again) and benched quarterback Justin Fields. And the Titans got blown out again.
So, that’s some company these Dolphins are keeping among the NFL’s bottom feeders. And had they not topped the Jets in Week 4, they’d be in the debate for No. 32.
In any event, the loss on Sunday solidified their status as a laughingstock, bolstered by the buzz about McDaniel’s job security. Ross, who bought the team in 2009, has been there before. He’s on his fifth coach (excluding interims), including the two fired during the season. His level of patience with McDaniel, who guided two teams to the playoffs (but hasn’t won a postseason game) since taking over in 2022, is the X-factor.
Yet given the direction of his team, Ross undoubtedly realizes that an overhaul is in order.
Can the Dolphins turn around their season and make a run at the playoffs?
Nah. That’s so highly unlikely. There’s little to inspire hope that they’ll hit a hot streak. And with the Falcons, Ravens (presumably with Lamar Jackson), Bills and Commanders on tap, 1-6 can theoretically morph into 1-10 before the team gets its bye week in late November. After that, the Saints and Jets are on the docket for Weeks 13 and 14.
Yet Ross’ decision on McDaniel – and by extension, GM Chris Grier – can’t be about this lost season. It’s about the long term. And getting a jump on the inevitable coaching search.
After all, it’s a matter of when. Not if.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell