The Miami Dolphins Must Raise The Bar

I am tired of hearing that the Miami Dolphins need to win a playoff game to be considered successful. That kind of talk and energy are keeping us stagnant. We need to set our sights on fighting for the AFC title, like the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, and even the Bengals have done over the past five years. We have too much invested in this team to just hope for a playoff win.

On top of that, I’m tired of being a team that excites us only to let us down in the end. It’s been that way for over 30 years. In fact, the last time we played in an AFC Championship game was in 1993, and we lost that game as well.

We need to think like champions, not just hope to get into the playoffs and have a shot. To do this, we first have to take care of business in our division. And the Dolphins have actually been doing an adequate job of doing so—outside of the Buffalo Bills, that is.

Under head coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins have virtually dominated the New York Jets and New England Patriots. Even with their recent head coaching changes, we need to maintain our stronghold over both teams.

The Bills will be (and have been) our toughest task. Since Josh Allen joined Buffalo, we have only beaten them twice in 14 matchups. However, we’ve been playing the Bills much more competitively in recent years. With Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier fighting for their jobs, we need to build on this momentum and finally take the AFC East title from Buffalo.

If we can do that, we’d get to host a home playoff game. And we all know that’s huge for us since the Dolphins are 18-8 at home under Mike McDaniel. That would set us up nicely for the playoff win we haven’t seen in 25 years. But honestly, that would not be enough in my eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, taking the AFC East title and winning a playoff game would be great, but we’d ultimately feel let down if we fizzle out like we always do. What we need from the city—and from the front office—is a winning franchise we can count on to win late in December and January, no matter the venue or the elements.