Dolphins’ playoff hopes, 7-game winning streak end in blowout loss to Titans
The Dolphins’ magical run in the second half of the season came to a screeching halt Sunday in a 34-3 road loss to the Tennessee Titans that not only ended their seven-game winning streak but later culminated with the end of any realistic playoff chances.
After wins by the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders in the early-window games and a victory by the Los Angeles Chargers later Sunday, the Dolphins (8-8) were officially eliminated from postseason contention.
The team entered its Week 17 matchup as the AFC’s seventh seed, needing only to win its final two games to complete a remarkable turnaround from 1-7 and return to the postseason for the first time since the 2016 season.
Instead, the Dolphins wilted on a cold, rainy day in Nashville against the Titans (11-5), who clinched their second consecutive AFC South title, and Ryan Tannehill, the former Dolphins quarterback who spent his first seven seasons in Miami.
“Any time you don’t have the performance you’re looking for, you’re disappointed,” coach Brian Flores said, speaking hours before the team’s playoff window was officially closed with the Chargers’ win over the Denver Broncos. “But this group, they’re going to stick together, support one another, get back out there tomorrow, make the corrections tomorrow and prepare for another big game next week.”
Throughout the Dolphins’ winning streak, players and coaches lauded complimentary football, led by an aggressive defense that stifled opponents and an offense that, while limited, was efficient and took care of the football.
However, as rain dropped throughout the afternoon at Nissan Stadium, the Dolphins lost their footing, in more ways than one.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had his worst game of the season in the elements, indecisive and missing throws in an 18-for-38 performance. Tagovailoa threw for 205 yards but added an interception, lost a first-quarter fumble as he attempted to pass and came close to turning the ball over more on multiple occasions.
Rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who has engineered so much of the offense’s production this season, had little impact and fell short of breaking Anquan Boldin’s rookie reception record or reaching 1,000 receiving yards. Waddle finished with three catches on seven targets for 47 yards.
A defense that has been one of the NFL’s best since Week 9, the start of the team’s winning streak, allowed a season-high 198 rushing yards to a Derrick Henry-less offense. Tannehill, who completed 13-of-18 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns, entered the game as the league’s most-sacked quarterback, being brought down 45 times. The Dolphins defense entered the game with a league-high 45 sacks but brought Tannehill down just once.
“They ran the ball a lot for starters, so that takes away opportunities to rush the passer,” defensive lineman Christian Wilkins said. “They were able to run the ball effectively all game. “We just didn’t play well enough defensively and on early downs, especially stopping the run.”
The Dolphins quickly faced a 10-point deficit in the first half, which matched their largest since the start of the winning streak and ballooned in a game that they couldn’t bring within reach. A 1-yard pass from Tannehill to tight end Geoff Swaim gave the Titans a 7-0 lead and then Tennessee made a 23-yard field goal after Tagovailoa’s fumble to take a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Titans led 17-3 at halftime after a 21-yard score by running back D’Onta Foreman (132 rushing yards), who became the first player to rush for at least 100 yards against the Dolphins since the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor in Week 4.
The Dolphins opened the second half with an improvement in execution on offense but still had nothing to show for it.
Their first drive of the second half started at their own 2-yard line and got within the Titans’ 27, but Tagovailoa was sacked on third down and kicker Jason Sanders’ 53-yard attempt fell short.
On the second possession of the half, which got as close as the Titans’ 26, an incomplete fourth-down pass to wide receiver DeVante Parker left another drive fruitless early in the fourth quarter with time running out.
“Offensively we wanted to try and push the ball downfield, get into some of the areas that we felt were going to be voided with the play-action game,” said Tagovailoa, whose offense converted just three of 12 third-down opportunities. “We wanted to try to stay ahead of the sticks, be in manageable third downs, but that wasn’t the case with our first three series. We were third-and-9, I think third-and-10 and maybe another third-and-10. But yeah, you can’t go out there and not be able to execute on the road against a good team and expect the outcome to be good. Just needs to be better execution from us.”
Very few players from Tannehill’s tenure with the Dolphins — which ended in him being traded to Tennessee in March 2019 amid a strip-down and rebuild in Miami — remained but the significance of the reunion was not lost on him. He watched from the sidelines on the final drive of a 17-point fourth quarter and reportedly implored his teammates to pour it on his old team when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
As Tannehill and his teammates reveled in another division title, the Dolphins were left to wonder, when everything had gone so right for the past two months, what went wrong on this fateful afternoon.
“It’s definitely unfortunate,” Wilkins said, “because we’ve been experiencing a lot of winning lately and we’ve been doing a pretty good job. But the recipe, the formula is still the same. 24-hour rule, flush this one, get back to work tomorrow.”
And the Dolphins will, with a regular-season finale against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium. But the Patriots, who clinched a playoff berth Sunday, will play the game with their minds on the postseason ahead. The Dolphins will take the field knowing that a season brought back from ruin still fell short.
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 4:09 PM.
