On a day in which Tua threw 3 more interceptions and the special teams unit faltered, the Dolphins lost again because of defense. More specifically, Jaelen Phillips missed easy sacks on both first and second down during the Chargers’ last-minute desperation comeback.
Phillips can be a beast out there, and I’ve certainly praised him a lot over the years, but in this case, with the game on the line, he caused the loss.
A sad coincidence to point out is the Charger game was among the best strategic games that Mike McDaniel ever called. He didn’t blow timeouts on offense. He kept running right after Achane had success running right. He had the FG team ready to rush onto the field with only 20 seconds left and the clock ticking. McDaniel didn’t contribute (too much) to this loss. It was mostly Jaelen Phillips’ back-to-back whiffs.
Special teams gets blame as well. A missed FG came back to hurt us. Even more damaging was after Waller scored to give us the lead, on the ensuing kickoff, we let up a 45-yard return. Can’t happen. But it did. Again.
Tua shares the blame as well. 2 of his 3 interceptions were his own fault. And once again, his final play of the game was a negative. He threw an INT on his final pass with the game on the line. Last week vs. the lowly Panthers, he went 3 and out on our last series. Against the Bills, we were driving down inside Bills territory late to take the lead, and he threw and INT. Against the Patriots in Week 2, on the final play of the game, he took a sack on 4th down, instead of at least trying to heave it long.
He’s just not a gutsy leader when we need him most. I wouldn’t be writing that if Jaelen Ramsey had simply made a routine tackle, but as it stands, 4 of our 5 losses had Tua either throw an INT or an incompletion on his final play, or else he took a sack.
It’s time for a change.
Short answer is YES and we have been here for decades! Yes we need a new head coach but that is not the biggest problem. The deeper issue is at the top of the organization. The front office and scouting system are broken, and until those are rebuilt, no coach will ever have a real chance to win.
For twenty years the Dolphins have changed coaches, schemes, and slogans, yet the results never change. The team starts strong, fades late, and runs out of talent when it matters most. The problem isn’t game plans. It’s evaluation.
Right now Miami’s scouting department works like a group of disconnected voices. One side grades prospects by athletic testing, another by film, while analytics sit in a separate room. Every coaching change resets what kind of players the team wants, so the draft board gets torn apart every two years. There is no shared vision and no accountability. The result is the same every spring: the Dolphins chase potential instead of production and miss far more than they hit.
When Jimmy Johnson ran the draft board, the system was unified. Scouts knew exactly what a Dolphins player looked like and why. That process produced Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, Sam Madison, and Patrick Surtain. Since Johnson left, the organization has lived without that identity. Even a creative coach like Mike McDaniel can’t win long term without steady, homegrown talent.
General Manager Chris Grier has been with the franchise since 2000 and in charge since 2016. In that span Miami has not won a single playoff game. The roster has a few bright spots but lacks the depth and toughness of true contenders. After nearly a decade in charge, Grier’s results speak for themselves. It’s time for new leadership.
The blueprint already exists. Baltimore, San Francisco, Buffalo, and Kansas City all draft well because their scouting systems are unified. They use a common grading language, tie analytics directly to film grades, and evaluate their own scouts the same way they evaluate players. They win because their process never changes.
If Miami could hire anyone, the perfect choice would be Joe Hortiz, the longtime Ravens personnel chief who now runs the Los Angeles Chargers. Hortiz helped design the Ravens’ prototype-based scouting system that rarely misses. He’s the model for what the Dolphins need: a builder, not a brand.
But Hortiz is already leading the Chargers, so Miami’s realistic option is Ian Cunningham, the Bears’ assistant general manager. Cunningham came up through both the Ravens and Eagles organizations. He understands how to blend traditional scouting discipline with modern analytics and has helped rebuild front-office structure in Chicago.
Give Cunningham full control and the resources to modernize Miami’s scouting operation, and within three drafts the Dolphins could finally have a system that consistently produces talent instead of chasing luck. That is how you build a roster good enough to make even an imperfect coach successful.
Until Miami fixes its scouting and evaluation structure, no coach will ever have a fair chance to win. The franchise doesn’t just need new leadership on the sideline. It needs a new architect in the front office and a complete rebuild from the ground up.