Wild ending keeps Miami Dolphins atop the AFC East with win
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins had one helluva ride today at Hard Rock Stadium but it was the last 15 minutes and over time that sealed the teams win.
When the Dolphins and Bears took the field to start the second half Miami held a slim 7-0 lead and the Bears responded by taking over the third quarter scoring 21 points and putting the Dolphins squarely behind the eight-ball. Then something began to happen that hasn’t happened in a long time.
The Dolphins woke the hell up.
Miami added two field goals in the third quarter but following a goal line stand that ended with a Bears turnover the Dolphins turned to Albert Wilson to get the game back into their hands. Miami ran Wilson who went over 150 yards on the day to two touchdowns then turned to Kenny Stills for a game tying 2-point conversion.
Worn and torn the Dolphins defense gave up yet another score to put the game almost out of reach but Brock Osweiler led the team down the field with Albert scoring his second touchdown of the game to tie it up and advancing the game to overtime.
Then it got really crazy as the Dolphins took the ball the length of the field and with 3rd down from the Bears one yard line Kenyan Drake fumbled and the ball was ruled to be a touchback for the Bears. Chicago took it down the field where former Miami Dolphins kicker Cody Parkey missed a 51 yard field that would have won the game.
Miami responded by going back to Kenyan Drake who got the ball into field goal range and with three seconds remaining, rookie kicker Jason Sanders made his first game winning kick of his young NFL career.
There were many players that stepped and deserve to be highlighted but none more importantly than the offensive line who held the league leading sack kings to no sacks and only one hit on Osweiler and in the process also paved the way for the Dolphins Frank Gore to go over 100 yards the first to do so against the best run defense in the NFL.
From Brock Osweiler’s steady performance to Reshad Jones’ defensive play and Kiko Alonso’s continued rocking hits, the Dolphins stuck together and improved to 4-2 and ending a two game slide.
More on today’s victory will be coming later today and look for more on Monday as we look at the players who really stepped up in the face of media and fan criticism.