The one thing that should not contribute to the Dolphins’ final decision on head coach Mike McDaniel
There’s one thing that DEFINITELY should not be a determining factor in the fate of Mike McDaniel.
It’s the end of the line for the 2025 Miami Dolphins. After a disappointing gut punch of a season in 2024, in which Miami regressed from 11 wins the year before to just eight wins, the follow through has produced no better result. Miami will, at best, equal last year’s win total and check in at 8-9 yet again. Team owner Stephen Ross warned the football operation that the “status quo” wasn’t to the standard expected after 2024. But status quo is what the Dolphins got again in 2025.
Former general manager Chris Grier is already out. Will head coach Mike McDaniel follow him out the door after this weekend’s Week 18 contest? If so, there should be one piece of information that has nothing to do with the decision. The game itself against the Patriots.
Week 18 versus the Patriots should have no outcome on the fate of Mike McDaniel
The Miami Dolphins have a 69-game sample size of Mike McDaniel as the head coach of the football team. A 70th game, with the team eliminated from the postseason and the Patriots simply playing for seeding, isn’t going to tell you much of anything you don’t already know about McDaniel. That cuts both ways, too. An upset win against a Patriots team that is on to bigger and better things would be a neat cherry on top of a strong second half of the season. A loss against the Patriots is, frankly, to be expected. New England has won 13 games this season and is favored by double digits in the game.
There are plenty of factors that we do not know yet that could be reason to make a decision one way or another. Who is the new general manager? What is their appetite for retaining McDaniel? What other head coaches across the league may become available that could bolster the market? How quickly will we find out what new coaches may be on the market? How much of a belief is there within the Dolphins’ organization that McDaniel’s biggest offensive warts are rooted in other variables, like the regression of QB Tua Tagovailoa?
Mike McDaniel’s head coaching career in Miami
- 35-32 record in the regular season
- 0-2 record in the postseason
- 4-12 record in September & October the last two seasons
- 11-6 record in in November & later the last two seasons
All of those issues and questions should be tipping the scales in either direction moving forward. We already know who McDaniel is and isn’t as a head coach after four years on the job. The exotic run scheme designs. The preference for speed. The procedural errors and the pre-snap complexities. The issues traveling and the hardships against higher competition. The pleasant persona and the way his team has fought hard for him down the stretch the last two seasons. All the good. And all the bad.
The powers that be seem to need more information before deciding if McDaniel will get a fifth. Just don’t expect the 60 minutes in Foxborough on Sunday night to be among the further intel needed before making a decision one way or another.
Miami Dolphins News
The Miami Dolphins’ recent short-yardage regression is even worse than you thought
You knew it had gotten bad. It’s worse than you think.
