Typical Miami Dolphins December, something is seriously wrong

The Miami Dolphins have a problem, what that problem is, well, that’s anyone’s guess but make no mistake, this team is playing bad football.

Is Tua Tagovailoa hurt? It might be a pretty good question to ask because for the last two weeks and two quarters, the Dolphins quarterback has been far from the player Miami fans were chanting MVP for. Tua looks bad. Horribly bad.

Giving credit to the Chargers is due. They played an incredible defensive game plan that confused Tua and the offense. They took Miami’s top two receivers out of the game almost entirely and they did it with three of their starters in the secondary, out.

The Dolphins couldn’t generate much against the 49ers’ number-one-ranked defense and tonight, couldn’t do it against one of the worst. What is going on in Miami?

Is this a matter of a long road trip late in the season? It better not be. The Dolphins still have one more to go and last night, Buffalo Bills fans were celebrating knowing they now control every bit of the season. The AFC East is theirs to win regardless of whether they win or lose next week.

Mike McDaniel entered the 49ers game being called a “genius” but you have to wonder about his play-calling and game-planning after the last two games, especially Sunday night.

Miami faced the league’s worst rushing defense and hardly ran the ball at all. Why? What would keep you from running the ball over and over and wearing out a defensive front that can’t stop the run? It has to be asked. Is McDaniel drinking his own kool-aide or is there something else we don’t know about?

Dolphins fans want to know what is going on because the high-powered offense we say most of the season isn’t there. Maybe defenses have figured McDaniel out and without a running game, they can sit back and take away the passing game. On Sunday, that is exactly what they did and McDaniel made no changes to force the Chargers to adjust.

The Dolphins have a short week before facing the Bills and if anyone is sitting at home thinking this is a game that Miami will win, the word you are looking for is “praying”. The Dolphins need to figure out what is going on, both sides of the ball have issues.

Defensively, the Dolphins should have been able to win giving up only 23 points but we have to ask what Josh Boyer is doing. Several defensive calls, including a 3rd and goal from the 19 that he lined up the defense on the goal line giving up 18 yards.

There are a lot of problems from the play of Xavien Howard, to the blitz schemes that are not working and with four games to go, the Dolphins may find themselves fighting for their playoff lives in less than a week’s time.