Winners and losers from Dolphins’ week 9 win over Bears

The Dolphins escaped the Windy City with a 35-32 win to improve to 6-3 on the year. In an otherwise high-scoring game, the Dolphins made the key stops in the fourth quarter to put away Justin Fields in the Chicago Bears.

Here are a few winners and losers for the Dolphins on Sunday:

Winner: Tua Tagovailoa

Tua seems to be a winner every week.

Against a young and inexperienced Chicago defense, Tua Tagovailoa made the Bears pay. Throwing for 302 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions, Tua led the offense to another win.

When the Miami defense could not make a stop, allowing 178 yards on the ground from Justin Fields (an NFL quarterback record), Tua and the offense kept the lead alive as they did not take their foot off the gas.

It was a huge game for Tua, but it seems it’s starting to become the norm for him and this offense. In fact, the Dolphins are undefeated this year (6-0) when Tua starts and ends the game for Miami.

Loser: Mike McDaniel

We have sung Mike McDaniel’s praise all season long, but nobody is immune to criticism.

There were moments on Sunday where we were all just thinking why? Some of the decision-making by McDaniel was questionable at best, including going for it on fourth down late in the game instead of electing for a short field goal. The decision paid off, but imagine if they didn’t convert.

The 2-minute drill is still a struggle for McDaniel and the Dolphins offense, too. Clock management  has been very shotty and in tight games like this one, it could be the difference between a win and a loss.

A win is a win, though, and McDaniel’s Dolphins are 6-3. He is a good coach and every good coach has some questionable moments.

He also had a rather bold strategy to slow down Justin Fields as he was tearing apart the defense, electing to demand Fields to simply “stop it”.

Winner: Jeff Wilson Jr.

Newly acquired running back Jeff Wilson Jr. made an immediate impact for the Dolphins on Sunday.

Leading the team in rushing yards, Wilson Jr. also found the end zone twice — once on the ground and once via touchdown reception. Plugging Wilson Jr. in right away was seamless as he took what would have been Chase Edmonds’ snaps.

Edmonds was sent to Denver as part of the Bradley Chubb trade and Wilson Jr. was acquired from San Francisco in exchange for a fifth-round pick.

The Dolphins got the better running back and it paid immediate dividends against Chicago.

Loser: Bradley Chubb

Acquiring Bradley Chubb for a first-round pick was the perfect way for the Dolphins to generate pressures and contain quarterbacks.

That did not happen on Sunday.

Justin Fields was playing like prime Michael Vick as he was rushing for NFL records and tossing dimes from the pocket for sixty minutes on Sunday. Bradley Chubb was not as big as a factor as Dolphins fans would hope.

Chubb totaled one total tackle, but did generate three pressures.

After inking a five-year $110 million deal earlier this week, Chubb has plenty of time to find his groove on this defensive unit. But Sunday was slightly disappointing for the new star in town. He will be alright though, he is a top-tier edge rusher in the league today.

Winner: Dolphins offensive line

Believe it or not, Tua Tagovailoa was not sacked the entire game on Sunday.

In fact, the Bears only generated two quarterback hits on the game. The Dolphins offensive line was pretty dominant in pass protection and that is exactly what Dolphins fans have been waiting to see.

As long as Tua has 2-3 seconds to hang out in the pocket while Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle do their thing downfield, it will be very hard for defenses to stop this offense. Tua was protected all day, directly leading to another huge performance for Tyreek Hill (7 catches, 143 yards and 1 TD).

If the offensive line can just be good enough this season, the Dolphins will be set up to win a lot more games this season.