The Dolphins' Rough European Adventures

The Miami Dolphins are back on the international stage this week and set to make NFL history for a second time.

After being part of the first-ever NFL regular season game in England back in 2007, the Dolphins now will be part of the first-ever NFL regular season game in Spain when they face the Washington Commanders in Madrid on Spain.

All that history-making is great, really, but ultimately we're talking about a simple regular season game that counts the same in the standings as any played in the United States.

And in that vein, the Dolphins' European experience through the years really hasn't been a very good one.

The Dolphins will go into that game against Washington with a 1-5 record in Europe, their five losses the second-most in the NFL in such games behind the seven losses by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Miami will have played after Sunday the second-most game in Europe with seven, half as many as the Jaguars.

The game in Spain marks the third time in five seasons the Dolphins are playing in Europe, each time in a different country. Before Spain this year, it was Germany in 2023 and England in 2021.

The Dolphins' lone win in Europe came in their second game there, a 38-14 victory against the Raiders in 2014.

The Dolphins' European history

The results of the Dolphins' previous Europe regular season games:

2007 — at London, England (Wembley Stadium): Giants 13, Dolphins 10

This was historic as a first, but the game itself in the rain was a dud. The Dolphins were 0-7 heading into that game against the 5-2 Giants and were kept out of the end zone until starting QB Cleo Lemon threw a TD pass to rookie Ted Ginn Jr. right after the two-minute warning.

2014 — at London, England (Wembley Stadium): Dolphins 38, Raiders 14

The Dolphins fell behind 7-0 in this one before scoring 38 consecutive points thanks to two TD passes by Ryan Tannehill, two TD runs by Lamar Miller, a fumble return for a TD by Cortland Finnegan, and three interceptions returned at least 30 yards. The Raiders had come into the game 0-3 and this loss was the final blow for head coach Dennis Allen, who was fired two days later and replaced on an interim basis by former Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano.

2015 — at London, England (Wembley Stadium): Jets 27, Dolphins 14

Like the 2014 game, this turned out to be the final hurrah for a head coach, but this time it was Miami's Joe Philbin. The 1-2 Dolphins looked listless in this matchup while giving up 166 rushing yards to Chris Ivory. Tannehill was picked off twice and sacked three times while being outplayed in this matchup by future Dolphins QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.

2017 — at London, England (Wembley Stadium): Saints 20, Dolphins 0

With Jay Cutler at QB after Tannehill had torn an ACL in training camp, the Dolphins offense was brutal in this Week 3 matchup after Miami went in with a 1-1 record. Miami actually took the opening kickoff and drove to a first-and-goal at the Saints 4-yard line, but Cutler was intercepted on first down and Miami never drove inside the New Orleans 40 the rest of the way.

2021 — at London, England (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium): Jaguars 23, Dolphins 20

This game marked the return to action of QB Tua Tagovailoa after he had missed three games because of a rib injury and he threw two touchdown passes, but it forever should be remembered for the insane late collapse. The Dolphins got aggressive in a 20-20 game on a fourth-and-1 from their 46 with 1:49 left, but Malcolm Brown was stuffed for no gain. The Dolphins defense appeared as though it was going to stop Jacksonville after an Emmanuel Ogbah sack made it third-and-20, but Trevor Lawrence then completed a 12-yard pass and on fourth-and-8 with only 5 seconds left managed to throw a 9-yard completion before a quick timeout with 1 second left set the stage for Matthew Wright's game-winning 53-yard field goal. The loss came in the middle of a seven-game losing streak that put Miami at 1-7 before a second-half run helped the Dolphins finish with a 9-8 record.

2023 — at Frankfurt, Germany (Deutsche Bank Park): Chiefs 21, Dolphins 14

This was a frustrating game because the Dolphins outgained the defending Super Bowl champions in this matchup of 6-2 teams, but couldn't overcome a disastrous first half, lowlighted by a return of a Tyreek Hill fumble for a touchdown that gave Kansas City a 21-0 lead. Even more frustrating was the final drive ending in a turnover on downs after Miami used two long runs by Raheem Mostert to gain 44 yards to the Chiefs 31, only to be followed by three consecutive incompletions and a fourth-down sack after Tagovailoa couldn't handle a shotgun snap that was a bit off the mark.