Miami Dolphins: Most embarrassing moments from Brian Flores era

Miami Dolphins embarrassing moment #2: Broncos game

This particular game tends to be forgotten when remembering Flores’ tenure in Miami, but it was one of many poorly managed in-game situations by him and his staff.

After taking over the starting quarterback position in Week 8 of the 2020 season, Tua Tagovailoa had led the Dolphins to three straight victories, including solid performances against the Cardinals and Chargers, and a big win over the powerful Rams defense. But his fourth start brought adversity, as well as questions that he’d have to listen to and answer for over a year (and probably still).

Miami had won five straight and was visiting the 3-6 Denver Broncos with a chance to add to their win total before playing bottom feeders like the Jets and Bengals. But Tagovailoa struggled, as some rookie quarterbacks tend to do, and he had just 83 passing yards through the first three quarters and the Dolphins found themselves down 20-10 and in danger of losing a game they had to have.

In what would become an ongoing story and one of the many knocks on Tagovailoa, Flores decided to pull him from the game and insert veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick instead. He could have instilled confidence in his young quarterback that had just led him to three straight victories, one of them in epic comeback fashion.

Instead, the Dolphins went on to lose the game anyway, with Fitzpatrick calling the shots. With the Dolphins trailing by 7 with less than 6 minutes left, Fitz drove the Dolphins into the red zone all the way from their own 1-yard line but ended up throwing the game-sealing interception in the end zone in classic FitzMagic fashion.

Not only did Miami lose a game that they should have won, but Tagovailoa’s benching sent waves through the league and the media, and has been one of the talking points for the people trying to discredit him.