Dolphins again show they are Super Bowl pretender

The Miami Dolphins are getting tired of hearing the narrative that they can't beat good teams. 

They also haven't done much to change that narrative.

The Dolphins had another opportunity to prove the doubters wrong on Sunday morning in Frankfurt when they played the Kansas City Chiefs. They again came out on the wrong end of a 21-14 result. 

That loss dropped them to 6-3 and continued a two-year-long trend of not being able to beat the NFL's best teams despite looking like a powerhouse on paper.

This is the biggest reason why they are more Super Bowl pretender than Super Bowl contender. 

There is no denying that when the Dolphins are clicking on all cylinders they can be one of the most exciting teams in football offensively. They spent the first half of the season lighting up the scoreboard and putting up massive numbers against some of the league's worst defenses. 

But as soon as the competition started to get tougher, the scoring disappeared and the winning has stopped.

The Buffalo Bills beat them earlier this season by 28 points.

The Philadelphia Eagles beat them by two touchdowns two weeks ago.

On Sunday it was the Chiefs that ended up getting the best of them and completely smothering their offense.

It's not just that the Dolphins are losing, it's the way they are losing. In every loss, the vaunted Dolphins offense has become completely ordinary, and that's not even mentioning the blowouts.

The bottom line with the Dolphins is this -- they played eight games against teams that made the playoffs in 2022. They lost six of them, including each of their final six games against playoff teams. 

They have played three games against probable playoff teams so far this season, and they have lost all three of them.

In these games against playoff (or likely playoff-bound) teams, the Dolphins have a 2-9 record over a year-and-a-half stretch. They have been outscored 330-239 (minus-91 point differential) and average just 21 points per game in these contests.

That is not going to cut it.

The Dolphins have done enough to give themselves a good cushion in the standings, and their remaining schedule is soft enough that they can feast on a few more bad teams. It remains likely that the Dolphins will make the playoffs. 

The question is how far they'll be able to go against playoff-caliber opposition. The Dolphins have repeatedly shown that they're not up to that particular task.