Miami Dolphins need all of overtime to put away the Bengals

The Miami Dolphins at one point led by 16 points in the fourth quarter but needed all of overtime to pull out a win in their home finale.

For three-quarters plus the Miami Dolphins were playing a football game against a team that showed no desire to win but instead seemed more interested in locking down the first overall pick in the draft. Then, they got lucky.

With less than two minutes left in regulation the Dolphins missed a field goal, the Bengals drove the field and with 30 seconds left scored a touchdown, scored the two-point conversion, successfully kicked an on-side kick and left 28 seconds left in the game.

As the clock continued to tick to zero, somehow the Bengals pulled off a miracle comeback with a 20-yard touchdown pass as time expired and then, again, successfully converted the two-point conversion. Suddenly, the game was heading into overtime with all of the momentum on the side of the Bengals.

Miami won the coin toss but couldn’t turn the opening OT drive into points. It appeared that at that point, the Bengals realized that a win might eventually cost them a shot at the first overall pick. The momentum they had at the end of the fourth dissipated and they exchanged drives with Miami until finally, with no time left on the clock, the Dolphins kicked the winning field goal.

The win secures the Bengals the top pick in the draft and for the Dolphins, it moves them from a potential number two overall to a likely fifth pick. Miami won the game with players that were picked off the street. No names that many fans hadn’t heard of and some the announcers didn’t know.

It was a meaningless game in every sense of the word but Miami played and won for pride. They won for the hopes of a culture change and they frankly didn’t care or care now who fans think they should be drafting or losing to draft.

The Dolphins will wrap up their season next week in New England.