The Miami Dolphins are playing out the string of their cursed 2025 season, as it seems one step below a foregone conclusion that head coach Mike McDaniel is not going to be back in 2026. Things have gone from bad to worse after McDaniel and the Dolphins were blown out by Dillon Gabriel and the one-win Cleveland Browns in Week 7.
McDaniel put together the type of performance that would lead many executives to consider a coaching change, which a good chunk of this fanbase would be behind. Instead, Miami seems content with letting the season play out despite all of the mounting frustrations.
Per Ian Rapoport, the Dolphins are not going to make any structural changes to the coacing staff right now. McDaniel, along with much-maligned coordinators Frank Smith and Anthony Weaver, appear to have been handed a few more games to prove themselves.
The Dolphins are circling the drain right now, and it seems unlikely that they are going to figure things out barring a genuine reversal of fortune. The "Fire McDaniel" crowd is on firm ground for complaint, but it doesn't look like their wishes will be granted any time soon.
Dolphins not firing Mike McDaniel despite terrible 1-6 start
Firing a coach in the middle of the season is usually a useless exercise, as the rest of the roster will likely be playing for an interim coach that is unlikely to be taken seriously as a candidate for the permanent job. However, sometimes things get to a point where keeping the current regime is untennable.
Not only is a defense that was expected to be one of the more putrid in the league wholly meeting those expectations, but the offense is regressing. Tua Tagovailoa is playing his worst football in years, and McDaniel's trademark creativity is nowhere to be found.
The Dolphins are running out of McDaniel defenses. The offense is a mess, the locker room is seemingly coming undone, and the only win they have came against a Jets team that it could be reasonably argued is in a better position despite their winless record.
McDaniel getting canned is a matter of when, not if. However, if getting the stuffing knocked out of his team by a poor Browns squad is not enough to get the firing wheels turning, fans may need to stop hoping for the powers that be to turn around part ways with McDaniel.