A troubling trend that’s haunted the Dolphins all season ruined their 45-21 loss to Bengals, and Mike McDaniel doesn’t seem to have an answer
The same thing that’s been haunting Miami all season ruined its Week 16 game.
The Miami Dolphins dropped another football game on Sunday afternoon in Miami Gardens, falling to 6-9, via a demoralizing 45-21 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati romped courtesy of a strong showing by quarterback Joe Burrow, a woeful defensive showing in the second half, and some untimely miscues from the offense.
The reports this weekend had head coach Mike McDaniel returning in 2026, but efforts like this won’t help. And in the assessment of McDaniel, a good place to start this season would be one particular part of the game. Miami is getting absolutely smoked in the third quarter of games. It was more of the same against the Bengals.
Dolphins’ catastrophic third-quarter trends continue to cripple Miami
You’d probably only believe the numbers because you’ve watched the games this year. Miami is -86 in point differential in the third quarter of football games this season. The Dolphins have given up 113 points to opposing teams in 15 games in the third quarter. That’s the most in the league. Their 27 points scored in the third quarter of games this year are tied for last. They’re getting outgained by 832 yards in third quarters. Their turnover differential is -3, which ranks fifth-worst in the league.
Appalling.
It’s a near lock at this stage. Miami has seen game after game go from competitive at halftime to a heaping pile of adversity by the end of the third quarter. Here’s the most interesting thing about it: Mike McDaniel knows it. And the Dolphins, per McDaniel, have tried a bunch of things to try to solve it. They just haven’t found the right button to push. And now, they’re out of time.
“I’m just very, very frustrated and angry about this continued third-quarter thing,” McDaniel said. “Where it appears that we let the circumstances that are outside of our control kind of — the dam breaks and all of a sudden we play different football. The way I look at it: I’m furious because I’m allowing it to happen, it starts with me. While I’m up here after games, you probably won’t get much other finger-pointing besides ‘I need to get it fixed.’ I could go through all the things that we’ve tried to do, and they’ve been unsuccessful. It’s not like it hasn’t been on our radar.”
NFL’s worst teams in point differential in the third quarter this season
- Miami Dolphins: -86 points
- Las Vegas Raiders: -71 points (before Week 16)
- Tennessee Titans: -63 points
- Cleveland Browns: -43 points
No solution will save this 2025 season in Miami. The damage is done, and Miami is now ensured a second consecutive losing season after securing its ninth loss of the year. That’s unfortunate for reality, but the bigger question is whether it will be part of a deal-breaking assessment for McDaniel.
The Dolphins are a productive first-half football team, but it’s hard to reconcile how a team can post scoring trends in one stratosphere early but completely fall off the pace in the second half. Reconcile it, Miami must try. And McDaniel will likely lament a comedy of errors in all phases that fueled a 14-10 lead in the final two minutes of the first half, which turned into a 45-21 defeat.