Mike McDaniel shares harsh truths about Dolphins after playoff elimination

The Miami Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention when they suffered a 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that dropped the Dolphins to 6-8 on Monday night. 

The final score was somewhat flattering to a Miami side that trailed Pittsburgh 28-3 early in the game's fourth quarter. Following the defeat, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel shared some harsh truths about his team's performance. 

Mike McDaniel "supremely disappointed" in Dolphins after loss to Steelers

"Supremely disappointed in the outcome," McDaniel said, per Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. "I think it does a disservice to the objective, the work that we were doing on this opponent, and flat out, their team was better than our team." 

The Dolphins entered Monday evening on a four-game winning streak that had silenced talk about team owner Stephen Ross possibly firing McDaniel in January. Miami then surrendered 21 unanswered points after halftime before the visitors scored a pair of meaningless fourth-quarter touchdowns at Pittsburgh's Acrisure Stadium.

"They had a good plan," McDaniel said about the Steelers. "We went into the game wanting to be the more physical team. That's something we've been emphasizing, we've been focusing on a ton. We fell short again coming out of halftime."

Will Mike McDaniel bench Tua Tagovailoa after elimination from playoff contention? 

As Daniel Mader noted for The Sporting News, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fell to 0-6 for his career in games played at 40 degrees or colder on Monday evening. According to StatMuse, Tagovailoa and Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks began Tuesday responsible for a league-high 16 total turnovers on the season. 

Per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, McDaniel declined to say whether or not he could bench the often-injured Tagovailoa now that the Dolphins know they won't be participating in the upcoming postseason tournament. Interestingly, McDaniel also acknowledged that his team's passing attack "hasn’t been good enough" throughout the campaign. 

"Everybody has to do better," McDaniel added. "I have to coach better. A lot of times, people squarely put all the focus on the quarterback. Several times [Monday], [Tagovailoa] was about to make the right read, and we had our eligible [receiver] fall over. It has to be better for us to be able to win games when you’re not owning time of possession or controlling the game on the ground. That limits you a ton. It’s not up to standard. The Steelers had a good plan early. They knew where we were trying to attack." 

The Dolphins will next host the also-eliminated Cincinnati Bengals (4-10) in Week 16. It remains to be seen if Tagovailoa will start that game for Miami.