Browns, Saints, Giants, Titans. Maybe Jets? These were some of the most common teams named as likely to finish the 2025 NFL season with the worst record. But out of everyone’s guesses, it’s the Miami Dolphins who have firmly entered the chat after just two weeks.
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Following an embarrassing 33-8 thumping at the hands of the Daniel Jones-led Colts in Week 1, of all teams, they threw the game away in Week 2 with late-game mistakes, falling 33-27 to the division-rival New England Patriots.
It’s their first 0-2 start since 2020, and clearly, 42-year-old head coach Mike McDaniel is not sure how to handle it. After the loss to the Patriots—which included Miami throwing an interception and giving up a kick return TD in the fourth quarter before a sack on fourth down ended the game—McDaniel thought he would try the semi-comical Taurean Prince route with his post-game presser.
"To win games, you have to win the game, not lose the game"
Mike McDaniel with an all time quote after losing to the Pats 😅
(via @MiamiDolphins) pic.twitter.com/QTxJbXxcKQ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 15, 2025
Clearly, it did not come off quite as the bespectacled so-called offensive guru might have wanted. It’s gotten so bad in Miami that fans paid to have a banner fly over the stadium during the game, calling for McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier to be fired. Former FS1 pundit Emmanuel Acho, however, believes that the sacking could create an even more disastrous situation on South Beach.
“They’re all about two things. Ball placement, and timing. Timing and accuracy are that whole Dolphins offense. That’s why you see, if you get Tua off-time, Tua makes mistakes. McDaniel is a timing-type of offensive mind. If you bring in another kind of offensive mind. You’re hamstrung with Tua… Mike McDaniel is perfect for Tua,” Acho said via Speakeasy.
“You get rid of Mike, you gotta get rid of Tua, you gotta blow the whole team up,” the former linebacker added.
Once you get through Acho’s nails-on-a-chalkboard delivery and excessive clapping, he makes a few decent points. We agree that it’s time for McDaniel to retire the whole funny-guy act. It just doesn’t come off when you’re not winning games.
But as Acho laid out, firing a head coach midseason isn’t always a great move, even if everyone knows he’s a dead man walking. The head coach-quarterback partnership in Miami is very specific, and things could get really ugly for both if one is left without the other.
We would also agree that it would behoove Tyreek Hill to go and ask the Dolphins to trade him posthaste. He’s not happy there, they’re wasting his prime, and they should try to get some sort of return considering they gave up multiple first-rounders for him back in 2022.
Despite all of this, McDaniel is maintaining a good attitude overall. He answered another question about his job security much more earnestly than that one about why the Dolphins lost the game.
“I think if I worry about my job security, I won’t be doing my job — and I think that inherently is against all things that I believe in. I’ve never felt entitled to this position and it’s very important for me to spend all my waking hours worrying about exactly how to do my job. I won’t spend one moment thinking about all the things that, whatever people want me to think about. [I’m] thinking about this team and the Buffalo Bills here, after I get done with this podium.”
Since 2014, 19 coaches have been shown the door before the season ended. Before the firings, those teams were 64-169-3 (.278 win percentage), and afterwards they were 60-155 (.343). Clearly, the teams get better, but not so much better that the midseason firing was really warranted. The interim head coach rarely becomes the head coach anyway.
So the Dolphins will roll on with McDaniel and Tua and Tyreek for the time being, though the latter’s days are the likeliest to be numbered in Miami. And things don’t get any easier for the Fins either: next week, they head to Buffalo to take on the Bills.
