The Miami Dolphins fired head coach Mike McDaniel after his fourth NFL season, which resulted in a 7-10 record.
There are multiple big-name coaches available this offseason, so some of the top candidates to replace McDaniel in Miami could include John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski.
The 2025 campaign was something of a nightmare for the Dolphins.
Miami began the year with an ugly 33-8 road loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis out-gained Miami 418-211, possessed the ball for nearly 39 minutes and didn’t give up any points until 6:21 remaining in regulation.
The Dolphins fared much better against the New England Patriots the following week but still fell 33-27 in part because of a 90-yard Antonio Gibson kickoff return for a touchdown. Miami then had a shot to upset the Buffalo Bills on the road the following Thursday, but that ended disastrously, 31-21, in part because of a late Tua Tagovailoa interception.
Miami got its first win of the year on Sept. 29 against the New York Jets, taking down its AFC East rivals, 27-21. However, the Dolphins lost wide receiver Tyreek Hill for the season with a dislocated knee and torn ligaments, including his ACL.
The Dolphins then lost two straight heartbreakers in which the team was winning late in the fourth quarter both times.
Miami gave up the game-winning touchdown with 1:59 left in a 27-24 road loss to the Carolina Panthers before seeing Cameron Dicker strike a game-winning 33-yard field goal with five seconds left in the Los Angeles Chargers’ 29-27 home win.
After the Chargers game, Tagovailoa called out players for being late to team meetings, and he had some marks about what leadership could be doing better.
Things went from bad to worse the following week in a rain-drenched game at the one-win Cleveland Browns, who were victorious 31-6 behind running back Quinshon Judkins’ three touchdowns.
“That was an embarrassing effort…” McDaniel told reporters the next day. “I don’t really have an opinion on the two teams in the game because we didn’t really participate in the game.”
Miami authored an excellent performance the following week at the Atlanta Falcons, with Tagovailoa throwing for four touchdowns in a 34-10 win.
However, the Dolphins then fell 28-6 to the Baltimore Ravens at home four days later. Miami didn’t score in the second half, and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson threw four touchdown passes.
After that game, the Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier mutually agreed to part ways after nine years.
Miami did show signs of life in the back half of the season, rolling off four straight wins to move to 6-7.
However, the Dolphins regressed badly in a 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were leading 28-3 in the fourth quarter before Miami scored a pair of garbage time touchdowns.
After the game, the Dolphins benched Tagovailoa for rookie Quinn Ewers. Miami went 1-2 in Ewers’ three starts.
Miami hired McDaniel to be its new head coach in January 2022 after his successful stint with the San Francisco 49ers, where he served as run game coordinator (2017-2020) and offensive coordinator (2021).
The offense immediately improved from No. 22 in scoring to No. 11. The 2022 Dolphins had the same record as the year before (9-8), but unlike 2021, that was good enough to make the AFC playoffs this time around. The No. 7 seed Dolphins nearly beat the No. 2 seed Bills on the road even without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (concussion protocol), but they fell just short, 34-31.
Miami bounced back strong in 2023, finishing with the NFL’s No. 2 ranked scoring offense and even putting up 70 points in a win over the Denver Broncos. Entering Week 18, the Dolphins needed a home win over the Bills to clinch the AFC East and the conference’s No. 2 playoff seed. However, Miami lost 21-14 before losing to the Chiefs in a freezing cold environment, 26-7, in the AFC Wild Card Round.
The 2024 season saw the Dolphins take a dip to 8-9. Tagovailoa missed six games (four due to concussion protocol and two with a hip injury). Hill also played the entire season with a wrist injury. However, the team as a whole took a clear step back en route to a disappointing losing season in which the team went from second to 22nd in scoring.
The 2025 season saw the bottom fall out on the Dolphins, and now McDaniel is a fall guy on a franchise that needs a complete reboot and reset.
Of note, the Dolphins still haven’t won a playoff game since 2000, so the team’s problems go deeper than the head coach, both historically and for this season. In the end, though, McDaniel was shown the door.
He’ll likely get an offensive coaching gig in short order, but in the meantime, Ross will look to somehow restore consistent winning ways that have largely evaded this team since the Dan Marino era of the 1980s and 1990s.
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