Upcoming Five-Game Stretch Could Define the Dolphins’ Season

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Jackson Buhler | Last updated Sep 29, 2025 9:40 AM ET

Upcoming Five-Game Stretch Could Define the Dolphins’ Season

Through three games of the 2025 season, things look bleak for the Dolphins.

After getting blown out by the suddenly surging Indianapolis Colts and then losing close games to two divisional opponents, Miami finds itself at 0-3.

While the team could quit with their season on the line, Miami has an opportunity to show what mettle they have in their upcoming five games and get their season back on track.

It starts tomorrow against the similarly winless New York Jets.

New York has arguably played better than Miami this season, with a couple of last-second losses, but historically, over the Mike McDaniel era, the Dolphins have fared well against the Jets.

After that, they face the lowly Carolina Panthers on the road before they play the one team with a winning record in the five-game stretch, the Los Angeles Chargers.

Miami then gets the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons to finish out October.

While both teams have their considerable strengths, at the end of the day, they are still very winnable games.

If the Dolphins can build upon a good performance from last Thursday in Buffalo, they could head into their toughest three-game stretch of the year at 5-3.

Of course, you never know with the Dolphins in the McDaniel era.

Before the season, it seemed like the one thing that you could count on was that they would beat teams under .500.

Well, through three games in 2025, that is already not the case as they lost to New England who they had previously dominated over the last four seasons when Tua Tagovailoa.

If Miami can right the ship, that would be great.

However, if they can’t and they end up falling tomorrow night, the season would be effectively over, and it would be the end of the line for this current rebuild.

That is the great thing about football, though.

Miami has looked as bad as any team in the NFL in the first three weeks of the year.

But if they can find some consistency, they can quickly turn things around and find themselves in a playoff position.

That all starts tomorrow night against the Jets.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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