Super Bowl coronation of Joe Burrow the latest what-might-have-been torture for Dolphins | Opinion
The Miami Dolphins have been moving in a slow-motion slog through the 21st Century NFL, inflicting water-drip torture on Dolphins fans, and so this newly minted Super Bowl matchup is just too perfect in the ways it mocks Miami and adds to the agony.
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams reminds us the two express lanes from franchise mediocrity or worse to championship caliber are to either draft a great quarterback or trade for one.
The Bengals did that in drafting Joe Burrow No. 1 overall on April 29, 2020.
The Rams did that in trading for Matthew Stafford a year ago to the day, January 31, 2021.
The Dolphins? They’ve been dreaming of the next Dan Marino for two-plus decades now, the dream unfulfilled. Tua Tagovailoa should not be written off entering his third season, but he’s still a fingers-crossed-hopefully-maybe on being the answer, while the Bengals and Rams have theirs with an exclamation point.
And the gut punch?
Burrow should be a Dolphin right now.
Remember the “Tanking for Tua” campaign in 2019? It was the unofficial (wink-wink) plan to be bad enough to get that No. 1 draft pick. But we found out only this weekend that, while the hashtag hope was Tagovailoa, the Fins coveted Burrow.
NFL Network’s Ian Rappaport reported Saturday that Miami offered Cincy all three of its first-round draft picks and possibly more to trade up to the top to select Burrow, the Ben gals rejecting the overture.
The Dolphins had failed to trade up only after they’d failed to tank properly the previous season, being just not-terrible enough to settle for the fifth overall pick.
That’s when they drafted Tagovailoa.
Instead of Justin Herbert, whom the Chargers happily claimed with the sixth pick.
So it was a double-scoop misfire:
1. First, the tanking failure causing Miami’s desperate trade-up gambit to get Burrow, which also failed.
2. Then, deciding Tagovailoa was better than Herbert. Which in fairness he may still turn out to be, although people who honestly think that right now could hold a national meeting at a Waffle House. Corner booth.
The dramatic rise of the Bengals -- from last in the AFC North the previous three seasons to the club’s first Super Bowl since 1988 -- verifies worst-to-first is an actual thing as the club chases its first-ever championship. The meek can inherit the Earth. (But only if the meek have a great QB).
The Rams are hardly Cinderella Cincy; L.A. reached the Super Bowl just three seasons ago, losing to the Patriots. But the Rams have not won an SB since 1999, while in St. Louis. Franchise hasn’t won it all in Los Angeles since pre-Super Bowl 1951.
Just as Burrow unlocked the Bengals and got them to a Super Bowl, the Rams got here because, after years and years of QB wheel spinning with the Marc Bulgers, Sam Bradfords and Jared Goffs, they spent big and upgraded to Stafford.
It isn’t just the quarterback, of course. Not saying that.
Cooper Kupp and Ja’Marr Chase have more than a bit to do with Stafford’s and Burrow’s success.
And defense still matters in the space-age NFL (which should hearten Miami, at least).
L.A. and Cincy ranked 15th and 17th in scoring defense this season, Miami right in between. That’s average numerically, but also less than one point from each being just outside the top five. Both Super Bowl teams have strong run defenses. The Rams were third in the league in sacks.
Still, it all starts with the quarterback.
That’s why San Francisco cannot be satisfied with Jimmy Garopollo even though the Niners were one win away from the Super Bowl despite him.
And that’s why the imperative is so utterly crucial for Miami to unlock Tagovailoa and fully realize however great or really good he can be -- a ceiling only hinted at, and not consistently, through two years. A blossoming that simply must show unequivocally in Year 3.
Burrow, Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones rising (not to mention Deshaun Watson) -- the AFC is now the quarterback conference.
Miami will not catch up or keep up until Tagovailoa ends all the doubts, or until he is replaced with somebody better if he does not.
Which brings us to the ongoing coach search.
Elevating Tua should be the priority in the hire, which is why Miami losing out on Brian Daboll, hired by the Giants, was as big a defeat for the Dolphins as most any suffered on the field.
Daboll was the Bills offensive coordinator credited with taking Josh Allen to the next step. And he had coached Tagovailoa at Alabama. It was a snug fit for Miami.
Now, with nine teams having had job openings and the field of top candidates winnowing, Miami’s top contenders seem to be offensive coordinators Mike McDaniel of the 49ers and Kellen Moore of the Cowboys. With the specter of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh still out there pulsing like neon, likely the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency fallback option for owner Stephen Ross.
Whomever is hired will be judged largely and rightly by the improvement of the offense and the elevation of Tagovailoa’s game in 2022, both needing to be dramatic.
Meantime the next two weeks will be a national coronation of Joe Burrow as he rises from “promising” and is christened “elite.”
And as Dolphins fans imagine yet again what might have been.
