Miami Dolphins: Playoffs or bust in 2022 for Brian Flores

Brian Flores will be entering his fourth season as head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2022. It will be his last if he doesn’t make the playoffs.

Head coach Brian Flores’ tenure with the Miami Dolphins has been nothing short of a roller coaster.

As it stands before Sunday’s upcoming game against the Patriots, Flores is sporting a 23-25 record over his first three seasons. His teams haven’t only been mediocre, but extremely streaky as well. He has losing skids of 6 and 7 games over that span, but has answered them with hot streaks like winning 7 in a row or 9 of 11. His job has even been rumored to be on the hot seat in the not-so-distant past,but has instead showed that the players are still willing to rally around him.

The impressive turnaround by the Dolphins in 2021 was enough to save Flores’ job for another season. But the leeway is gone, and 2022 will be a make-or-break year for the head coach. If Miami fails to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, then yet another regime turnover could be in the works.

It is hard to look at Brian Flores’ track record as a head coach and convince yourself that he is the answer as the man in charge. His numbers in comparison to other failed coaches in recent Dolphins’ history are eerily similar. Joe Philbin coached 52 games in Miami, and wound up with a 24-28 record. His .462 winning percentage is just a shade lower than Flores’ .479. Then there is Adam Gase, who had the same record as head coach as Flores does now, but had an actual playoff appearance on his resume as well.

The clock is ticking on Brian Flores, thanks partially in part to the rising age of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. The billionaire is will be 82 years old by the start of next season, and it is no secret that he is in a hurry to field a competitive team.

This fact, coupled with the urgency of Flores to save his job, could lead to drastic changes to the Dolphins roster this upcoming off season. It was well known last year that Miami was hot on the trail of Deshaun Watson, and will likely be pursuing him in the spring. There are other well-established quarterbacks who could be on the market as well, and you can expect the Dolphins to put in their due diligence with them.

The defense is ready. The Flores-led unit has been the most dominant factor in his 23 victories as head coach, a unit which has been pulling an often-anemic offense through the mud in order to get in the win column. In the eyes of the owner and the head coach, the Dolphins are just a piece or two away from being contenders in the AFC. They figure that if they bring in a top-flight quarterback and invest in some veteran offensive lineman, the Dolphins could be a force on both sides of the football.

If Brian Flores were headed in to his second or third season as head coach, then it would be more likely that he would stick with Tua Tagovailoa as QB1. But given his situation and the one of the franchise as a hole, look for him and the front office to be as aggressive as possible this off season in order to ensure a playoff berth in 2022.