Who’s hot, who’s not after the Dolphins’ 35-32 win over the Bears
The Dolphins improved to 6-3 and achieved their second three-game winning streak this season with a 35-32 victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday.
Here’s a look at who’s hot — and who’s not — after the win.
Who’s hot
▪ Tyreek Hill: The All-Pro wide receiver caught seven passes for 143 yards and a touchdown, his first score since a pair against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2. In nine games, Hill has 1,104 receiving yards, the most for a wide receiver in the first nine games of a season. It also keeps him on pace for 2,000 receiving yards, a feat that has never been achieved in NFL history. But leave it to Hill to deliver something new every week. After his 3-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, he channeled his inner Simone Biles with an acrobatic cartwheel and backflip in the end zone.
▪ Jeff Wilson: It was unclear how much the fifth-year running back was going to play after the Dolphins acquired him in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday. However, with prior knowledge of the scheme, Wilson hit the ground running — literally. His nine carries were tied with Raheem Mostert for the most on the team and he led the Dolphins with 51 rushing yards, including a 28-yard run on the opening drive of the second half. Wilson also caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown, including a 10-yard score in the third quarter.
Who’s not
▪ Dolphins defense: At the halfway point of the season, a Miami defense kept intact from last season has been below-average. The unit entered Week 9 allowing 24 points per game and 5.9 yards per play, bottom both-15 figures. Those rankings are expected to drop even further after the Dolphins allowed 32 points and 5.3 yards per play to the Bears.
Miami’s pass rush — even with outside linebacker Bradley Chubb making his team debut — wasn’t able to get to quarterback Justin Fields consistently and he burned the Dolphins on the ground with 178 rushing yards, a regular-season single-game record for an NFL quarterback. While the unit was able to make key stops late, it was a performance that won’t cut it against the better offenses in the NFL
▪ End-of-half execution: There isn’t much to criticize a Dolphins offense over after it has scored points on about every other possession in the past two weeks. However, the team’s clock management is room for improvement after the Dolphins’ two-minute drive at the end of the first half stalled out near the red zone for the second time in three weeks. On Sunday, Miami was at the 18-yard line with under a minute remaining in the first half after a 39-yard completion to Waddle. But Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel opted not to use one of the team’s remaining two timeouts and the offense was flagged for 12-men-in-the-huddle, pushing the unit back five yards. McDaniel used a timeout to prevent a 10-second runoff but the Dolphins had to settle for a 29-yard field goal a few plays later, which kicker Jason Sanders missed wide left. Instead of leading by 11 points or seven at halftime, the Dolphins led by four in an eventual three-point win. The blunder was enough in a victory against a below-.500 Bears team but could be the difference between winning and losing against an elite team.
This story was originally published November 6, 2022 at 8:07 PM.
