Dolphins’ loss to Chiefs ends season in wild card round for second straight year
Snow flurries whirled in the air at Arrowhead Stadium late Saturday night, and the temperature continued to drop along with the game clock, mercilessly counting down the end of the Dolphins’ season.
A month ago, Miami had hopes of hosting games in balmy South Florida for a prolonged playoff run. Instead, they were in Kansas City, playing one of the coldest games in NFL history — and the most frigid in franchise history — and ultimately watching as its season ended in the first round of the postseason for the second straight season.
In a 26-7 road loss to the Chiefs, the late-season struggles of the Dolphins’ high-flying offense continued, while a depleted defense made key stops to keep the team in the game but couldn’t make enough plays against quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The defeat, which extends the franchise’s playoff win drought to 23 seasons, sets up an offseason headlined by a precarious cap situation and tough questions for a team that built a roster it thought could contend for a championship, only to lose in the wild-card round again.
Throughout the season, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel spoke about wanting his team to peak when it mattered the most, but that vision never materialized. Miami lost three of its final five games in the regular season to lose its grip on the AFC’s No. 1 seed and sizable lead in the AFC East, and ended the season with three straight losses, all to teams that made the playoffs. Throughout the season, the Dolphins were 1-6 against playoff teams and had a -110 point differential. Only the Washington Commanders, who are picking second in the 2024 NFL Draft, had a worse differential against teams that made the postseason.
“We can’t just be a bunch of front-runners,” said wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who caught five passes for 62 yards, including a 53-yard score in the second quarter.
All season, the Dolphins fought narratives about their legitimacy against elite teams and how they could fare in unappealing weather conditions.
That all culminated in a road loss amid frigid conditions to Kansas City, where Miami’s offense capped its trend of struggles against top-tier defenses with its worst performance of the year. The Dolphins recorded a season-low in points, yards per play (4.5) and third-down conversion rate (8.3 percent). Miami’s overall figures were only boosted by Hill’s second-quarter touchdown, which cut into a 10-0 deficit.
The Dolphins never got closer to the defending Super Bowl champions, averaging 3.6 yards per play outside of Hill’s long receiving touchdown. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who led the NFL in passing yards, couldn’t get much going downfield in kickoff temperatures of -4 and a wind chill of -27, which only dropped later into the night.
Tagovailoa completed 20 of 39 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Even with the return of wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and running back Raheem Mostert, who had missed the previous two games with injuries, Miami’s offense totaled just 264 yards. The Dolphins were 1 of 12 on third downs and 3 of 6 on fourth down. A rushing offense that led the league in yards per carry totaled 76 yards, with 25 coming from a pair of Tagovailoa scrambles.
“We didn’t come together the way we wanted to offensively,” said Tagovailoa, who threw six touchdowns to five interceptions in the team’s final six games.
A Dolphins defense that was missing five starters and lost another in safety DeShon Elliott because of an aggravation of a calf injury did its part to keep Miami in the game as the offense failed to gain traction. Miami trailed 16-7 at halftime, and the deficit wasn’t larger mainly because of a defense that held the Chiefs to 1 of 4 in the red zone. The Dolphins trailed 19-7 entering the fourth quarter but Kansas City quickly made it a three-possession game with a 3-yard touchdown run from running back Isaiah Pacheco.
Without its top three pass rushers and starters at middle linebacker, safety and cornerback, the Dolphins bucked year-long tendencies, sending blitzes at a season-high clip, but couldn’t make enough of an impact on Mahomes, who completed 23 of 41 passes for 262 yards and one touchdown. He also ran twice for 41 yards.
“Obviously, it’s tough. But it is what it is,” defensive lineman Christian Wilkins said of myriad injuries the Dolphins’ defense faced. “Injuries are a part of the game and you’re never going to make excuses for that as much as you would love to have those guys and whatnot.”
In the immediate aftermath of the season-ending loss, McDaniel and most of the players who spoke in the visiting team interview room didn’t want to ponder too much on what lies ahead, as well as the fixes needed to avoid another early postseason exit. Hill, as he had done at times throughout the season, noted the offense needed to improve its effectiveness against two-high-safety looks.
It was notable, though, that three of the most important figures in the Dolphins’ offseason were also made available to answer questions.
There was Wilkins, the most heralded player of the Dolphins’ impending free agent class, who might have priced himself out of Miami but said he would love to remain with the team that drafted him in 2019.
There was McDaniel, who faces another critical offseason to add tweaks to an offense that produced some of the brightest moments in franchise history but bogged down when it mattered most.
But the biggest spotlight over the next several months will be on the future of Tagovailoa, who had his best season to date but also delivered some of his lowest moments in the biggest games of the season. Not too long ago, he seemed destined to be the next in line of lucrative quarterback extensions. Now, Tagovailoa, who will be entering the final year of his rookie deal, faces renewed questions about his ceiling with a franchise that views itself as a contender.
Tagovailoa, who played every regular-season game and earned Pro Bowl honors for the first time in his career, said he wasn’t concerned about his contract future. He instead wanted to focus on a final moment with his teammates, savoring a season full of so many memories but a bitter end.
For a franchise that has invested significant cap space and draft capital to acquire talent and put together a Super Bowl-caliber team, difficult decisions lie ahead to figure out how to improve from the disappointment of two straight first-round exits. The Dolphins are expected to have a full slate of draft picks this spring for the first time since 2021 but are already projected to be $40 million over the cap.
When McDaniel first arrived as head coach in 2022, in one of his first interviews he spoke about the need to get better and how stagnancy can easily double as regression. He invoked those comments on Saturday night while saying he believed his offense showed improvement.
A cold reality hit the Dolphins in Kansas City, though, with an offseason to decipher how to avoid the state they find themselves in.
This story was originally published January 13, 2024 at 11:18 PM.
