Was the Dolphins’ season a failure? How the answer will impact Miami’s offseason
.JPG "Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) walks off the field after the loss against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, January 13, 2024.")
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel hadn’t considered an alternative outcome.
His sole focus was leading Miami to an upset win on the road in Kansas City, capturing the franchise’s first playoff win since the 2000 season and advancing to the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
So after a 26-7 loss to the Chiefs on Saturday night, ending the Dolphins’ season in the wild-card round for the second straight year, McDaniel wasn’t just ready to do an autopsy and look ahead to the future.
“We fell short of our goals,” he said. “We had very strong expectations of ourselves. One of the reasons a lot of people don’t put themselves out there and hold those expectations is because when you fall short from them, it’s emotional and gut-wrenching. In terms of categorizing the season or other macro things about stuff moving forward, I don’t think it does justice to the team in the appropriate way. We lost a game. We were 100 percent all in, fearlessly playing as though we would win, but hats off to the Kansas City Chiefs. They beat us, outplayed us, outcoached us, all those things. That is where my mind is at. I will be better answering that during the week when you next see me, but tonight is about tonight. It hurts.”
The time for answers and looking ahead will arrive soon. On Monday, McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier will address local media in an end-of-season news conference. The session will allow them to provide their perspective on what went wrong for the team in the final month of the season and insight into how they plan to improve a team that had championship expectations but ended the season without even a playoff win to show for it.
In the Dolphins’ postgame locker room, the perception of the team’s season varied.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who recorded his third straight 1,000-yard receiving season but dealt with multiple injuries, succinctly answered “No” when asked if the year was a success. He later indicated that multiple playoff wins would have led him to believe the season was a success.
Fellow wideout Tyreek Hill, who was voted AP first-team All-Pro, said he believed Miami exceeded expectations.
“The season didn’t end the way we wanted it to end, but as far as the season, I think guys really laid it on the line,” he said. “For granted, all the injuries that we had and guys fighting through injuries. I believe that we had a great season.”
Fullback Alec Ingold, a Pro Bowl selection, noted the number of players who had career-best seasons, and the dissonance of not being able to put it all together.
Only one team gets the satisfaction of holding the Lombardi Trophy and truly labeling their season a success. The other 31 must balance expectations with reality to calculate how best to proceed in the offseason and get closer to being Super Bowl champions.
For the Dolphins, that means difficult conversations surrounding the state of an offense that plummeted in the final month of the season, how much injuries were a factor in the team’s performance and the future of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract after a disappointing stretch to conclude the season.
The 2023 Dolphins showed a team good enough to beat the dregs of the league — Miami was 10-1 against teams that didn’t make the playoffs — but not yet at the caliber of the NFL’s elite, posting a 1-6 record against teams that advanced to the postseason.
A team good enough to put up a franchise-record 70 points in the first month of the season in sunny Miami Gardens but one that could only muster seven points in the coldest game in franchise history, once again plagued by what Tagovailoa said was communication issues, a season-long issue on the road that dates to 2022.
One that could get back to the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since the late 90s but just not ready to break a playoff win drought that now spans 23 years.
At last year’s end-of-season news conference, Grier was initially asked if he viewed the season as a success.
“I would say successful, but at the end of the day, every team’s looking — all 32 teams are trying to get to that ultimate goal,” he answered.
Toward the end of the news conference, he was asked a variation of the same question.
Is 9-9 a fair reflection of this season?
Grier quoted a mentor, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. “He says you are what you are,” Grier answered.
The Dolphins finished 11-6 in 2023 but a season of ups and downs showed a Miami team that was as potent in moments as they were mediocre in others. And with the franchise projected to be $40 million over the salary cap, one of the main questions Miami faces this offseason is whether the core of the roster as constructed is enough to make a significant playoff run.
Several players acknowledged the nature of the NFL and how the team will look different, to some extent, when players arrive for offseason workouts in the spring.
How much of a success — or failure — Grier and the franchise’s top decision-makers perceive the season will decide just how much of a makeover the roster needs in the coming months.
This story was originally published January 14, 2024 at 1:50 PM.
