Entering the 2025 season the Miami Dolphins offseason focus has been changing their culture and becoming more physical. Against the Colts, they proved that nothing has changed.
Miami opened its season with a deafening 33–8 loss that has fans rethinking what this season is becoming, not what they hoped it would be. On the field, the Dolphins fell flat, and it has to be eating at owner Stephen Ross, who may already be reconsidering Mike McDaniel’s future.
No NFL owner is going to fire their head coach after an opening-season loss, but it should be enough to put the thought in his mind, should the season progress in a similar fashion.
Dolphins' Mike McDaniel coached like someone who already has a foot out the door
There was so much hype over what the 2025 season despite the outside chatter they would be near the bottom of the AFC East with no chance of chasing a division title. Most fans didn't buy it. The holes in the secondary, questions surrounding the offensive line, and the depth at tight end aside, there were reasons to believe this team could be better than last season.
Fans knew there was a good chance Miami would be rusty in the opening game. Long offseasons often leave teams looking sluggish. Ask Chiefs fans after their Friday night loss to the Chargers. This one, however, is different.
The Dolphins showed up in Indianapolis unprepared to play football. McDaniel's play calling was consistently bad as has been the case the better part of his coaching career in Miami.
Ross won't get rid of McDaniel after one game, but it is becoming more and more clear that his head coach is way over his head. The loss against the Colts is one of the worst in Dolphins history. The team's first-half offensive stats were the worst since 1991, and this is an offense that is supposed to be almost elite.
If McDaniel wasn't on the list of firings Ross needed to make this year, he should be now.