The Dolphins History of 0-2 Starts

It's really hard to find much positive to say about the 2025 Miami Dolphins at this point, to the point where we're pretty sure will quickly dismiss the team's recent ability to rebound from an 0-2 start.

This is where the Dolphins are after they followed their embarrassing performance in their opener against the Indianapolis Colts with a disheartening loss in their home opener against a New England Patriots team that's in somewhat of a rebuild with new head coach Mike Vrabel.

The Dolphins never had lost an opener under Mike McDaniel before this season, and now they're 0-2 for the first time since 2020.

And in that 2020 season, as this year, the schedule had the Dolphins on the road for a Thursday night game following that 0-2 start — only it was against the Jacksonville Jaguars five years ago, not against the AFC powerhouse Buffalo Bills this week.

That aside, the Dolphins went on to win that game at Jacksonville and produced a 10-6 record that often would have been enough for a playoff berth but wasn't that particular season.

But there's more historical precedent for those fans who refuse to give up on the season after two games — and we understand that might not be a very large number at this point.

Most Dolphins fans likely remember, and painfully, that the team was able to reach the playoffs only twice from 2002 until McDaniel arrived as head coach in 2022, a span of 20 seasons.

But maybe most fans don't instantly remember that in both of those playoff seasons — 2008 and 2016), the Dolphins started 0-2.

In 2008, the Dolphins got handed a 21-point loss at Arizona to follow a home loss against the New York Jets before they headed to New England and shocked the Patriots (albeit without Tom Brady) in a 38-13 rout that unleashed the Wildcat.

In 2016, the Dolphins suffered close losses on the road against the Seattle Seahawks (12-10) and New England (31-24) before coming back to South Florida for their home opener, where they needed overtime to defeat the Cleveland Browns.

Those two seasons are among the 10 where the Dolphins have started 0-2 since 2004, and that kind of start just didn't happen for Miami before that.

Leaving out the first four years of the franchise when the Dolphins played in the old AFL under coach George Wilson, the Dolphins had exactly one — yes, one! — 0-2 starts in the 34 seasons after Don Shula arrived as head coach in 1970.

That one season came in 1988 and the team would go on to finish 6-10 — one of the only two losing seasons the Dolphins during Shula's 26 years as head coach (the other was 1976).

After that incredible run of avoiding 0-2 started, the Dolphins had a run of four consecutive seasons where they lost their first two games, from 2006-09.

Times certainly have changed.

THE DOLPHINS' 0-2 STARTS (since 1970)

1988 — Third game, beat Green Bay 24-17, final record 6-10

2004 — Third game, lost against Pittsburgh 13-3, final record 4-12

2006 — Third game, beat Tennessee 13-10, final record 6-10

2007 — Third game, lost against New York Jets 31-28, final record 1-15

2008 — Third game, beat New England 38-13, final record 11-5

2009 — Third game, lost against San Diego 13-3, final record 7-9

2011 — Third game, lost against Cleveland 17-16, final record 6-10

2016 — Third game, beat Cleveland 30-24 in OT, final record 10-6

2019 — Third game, lost against Dallas 31-6, final record 5-11

2020 — Third game, beat Jacksonville 31-13, final record 10-6

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