It’s official: The Bengals (not the Dolphins) are the worst team in the NFL
Ryan Fitzpatrick was the only thing stopping the Dolphins from being the worst team in football in 2019.
There can be no doubt about that now. Not after Fitzpatrick’s four-touchdown, 400-yard game Sunday.
And not after his clutch throws were the difference in overtime.
Final score from highly entertaining afternoon at Hard Rock: Dolphins 38, Bengals 35.
When Jason Sanders booted through a 37-yard field goal late in overtime Sunday, the once unlikely became official:
The Bengals will pick first.
The Dolphins, to the great surprise of everyone three months ago, will not.
And for all Cincinnati’s late heroics — scoring 16 points in the final 29 seconds of regulation — the final hour of the game changed nothing.
The Dolphins, even with a late collapse, were the better team Sunday, as they have been all year.
So let’s take a moment to credit them for that. It wasn’t that long ago that the Dolphins were considered possibly the worst team ever, not just of 2019.
Think how far they’ve come since those first two weeks, when they were outscored 102-10 on the very same field they left triumphantly Sunday. Respected football voices were calling them an embarrassment to the game, and even worse, immoral.
Three months later, they have as many wins as the Bengals and Redskins combined.
“On paper, we’re just a bunch of misfits,” a happy, but tired Jesse Davis said at his locker Sunday. “I know we played Cincy, but Cincy’s a good team. They have a good front. On defense, they’re solid. I think every week, we come out and prepare like we’re going to come out here and play.”
Added linebacker Jerome Baker: “That goes really to go coach [Brian Flores]. Since Day 1, no matter what changes, no matter what happens to our team, he always says we’re going to go out there and try to win every game. We’re going to prepare to win every game.
“He’s a class act. He really did that. And all of us, we believed in him. He looked us straight in the eye. There’s been some tough conversations, but he looked us in the eye and told us we’re going to get the job done. Give us every chance to win, and he really showed us.”
They had more than a chance. They had a 23-point lead.
And blew it.
Andy Dalton threw three touchdown passes on the Bengals’ final three possessions before overtime, including a 25-yarder to Tyler Eifert on the final play of regulation, then sent the game to OT when he raced into the end zone on the two-point conversion.
Cincinnati only had that chance because Jordan Evans recovered an onside kick in the final minute of the game.
Neither team did much with its first two overtime possessions — Mike Gesicki dropped a pass that would have put Miami in field goal range — but Fitzpatrick made three key throws on the Dolphins’ final drive to set up Sanders’ field goal attempt.
Here’s what it meant:
Despite fielding perhaps the worst roster in modern football history, Flores got to at least four wins in his rookie season. That deserves celebration.
What doesn’t: How damaging those wins have been to the team’s draft capital. The Dolphins might still land a franchise quarterback this offseason, but they won’t almost certainly have their choice of the field.
That’s because they will likely pick third, fourth or fifth in next April’s draft. They are fifth entering Week 17. In other words: Joe Burrow and Chase Young are not coming to Miami. Not unless Chris Grier trades up.
But their diminish standing could make taking Tua Tagovailoa — assuming he declares — more palatable. The Dolphins could be more willing to take a chance on Tagovailoa and his fragile health with the fifth pick than they would be the second.
If so, he would have no better teammate and mentor than Fitzpatrick, assuming Fitzpatrick wants to return for a 16th season.
And why wouldn’t he, based on how he’s played the last half of the season?
Fitzpatrick put together a vintage performance Sunday. He completed 31 of 52 passes for 419 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, making history along the way.
Fitzpatrick had the second-most first-half passing yards in Dolphins history (252). Only Dan Marino’s 318 in the first half against the Rams in 1984 were more.
“He’s the man,” said center Daniel Kilgore.
“The glue that holds us all together,” Davis added.
And he’s the biggest reason the Dolphins have played above their ability this year. Much is uncertain beyond Sunday’s finale in New England. The Dolphins are almost certainly going to address the quarterback position in the coming months. Fitzpatrick hasn’t even committed to returning in 2020.
All seven of his kids were on the field pre-game Sunday. It was perhaps the final home of his most unlikely career, and it felt like it.
“You just never know in this business and in this league,” Fitzpatrick said.
But if he wants to keep playing, he’ll be an asset to a Dolphins locker room thrilled about what’s to come.
“This team is so resilient,” Davis said. “A lot of transactions happen, but this team knows how to fight, which is something, when I’ve been here, we haven’t learned how to do. It’s fun to see, fun to be around. Coach has put us in the right position and the right direction. Moving forward, I think Year 2 is going to be fun.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2019 at 5:04 PM.
