Dolphins' Mike McDaniel reacts to fans booing during blowout loss to Ravens

A Thursday report revealed that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is not "in any rush to fire" head coach Mike McDaniel and will "remain tolerant as long as there are clear steps toward improvement."

However, that story emerged before the Dolphins fell to 2-7 on the season via a disheartening 28-6 home loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night. 

Upset Miami fans made their displeasure known throughout the lopsided game. Following the defeat, McDaniel was asked about the boos that could be heard loud and clear via the Amazon Prime Video broadcast. 

Mike McDaniel admits that "it sucks" to hear fans booing during home losses

"Yeah, personally, you want to dictate the terms. You want to fix stuff, and yeah, it sucks. That sucks," McDaniel acknowledged, per Kevin Patra of the NFL's website. "All of that does. But I think it's a pretty consistent formula of fans enjoy winning, and so our expectation is that we have to do the work and do the right things for fans to enjoy the experience, and unfortunately, we didn't do that tonight, so we got to get back to work to give them something to cheer about."

As Bleacher Report's Paul Kasabian shared, NFL Media's Ian Rapoport reported during the "Thursday Night Football" pregame show that "McDaniel's job status is firmly up in the air." 

"I do not sense anything imminent from owner Stephen Ross, who likes [McDaniel], believes in him and has invested in him," Rapoport continued. "But here is how McDaniel is going to be judged. How do the players respond? What is it like in the locker room? Do they keep playing for him, or do they not, and can you see it? That is going to determine whether he keeps his job."

McDaniel failed to guide the Dolphins to a single playoff win over his first three seasons in charge, is currently captaining what seems to be a sinking ship and was unable to prevent his club from being dominated in front of a prime-time audience on Thursday night. 

In short, one could assume Ross saw nothing during the Ravens game to convince him that McDaniel is the right man to lead a franchise turnaround.

Will Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel after Ravens debacle?

Miami notching a surprising 34-10 win at the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8 temporarily silenced chatter about McDaniel's job status. Understandably, any confidence the Dolphins had coming off that victory had disappeared by the time McDaniel spoke with media members following the "TNF" debacle. 

"We were minus-three (in turnovers) and they were three-for-three in the red zone and we didn't score a touchdown," McDaniel added during his postgame comments. "There were elements of the football confidence created last week, but the bottom line is you have to cross your T's and dot your I's in the National Football League or you get made to pay. It's very, very disappointing, and unfortunately, we're going to have to sit on that disappointment for 10 days. I know the locker room would like to go play another Thursday night game in four days to get this bad taste out of their mouth."

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio noted that teams often use a so-called "mini-bye" to make a significant change. It sounds like at least some members of the NFL community believe McDaniel won't be employed by the Dolphins when Miami hosts the Buffalo Bills (5-2) on Nov. 9.