Miami Dolphins: 5 miserable streaks that need to end in 2023
4. No division title for the Miami Dolphins since 2008
There was a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the Dolphins were consistently in the thick of the playoff race. Under head coaches Jimmy Johnson and then eventually, Dave Wannstedt, the club made five consecutive postseason appearances from 1997-2001 and won the AFC East in 2000.
As for the team’s last division title, you have to go back to 2008 when the club won a tiebreaker over the New England Patriots as both clubs finished 11-5 that year. Since then, New England would go on to win the next 11 AFC East titles and the Buffalo Bills have captured the top spot in the division each of the past three seasons.
3. No playoff victory since 2000
It has sadly become the answer to a trivia question when it comes to this franchise. Which player owns the team record for the most rushing yards in a postseason game?
That would be running back Lamar Smith, who totaled 40 carries for 209 yards and two scores in a 23-17 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts in the 2000 AFC Wild Card Playoffs. Those attempts remain a league record for a playoff game and the yardage total is the third-highest ever in a postseason contest.
Unfortunately for the team, it was the last time the Dolphins came away with a playoff victory.
Dave Wannstedt’s club would go on to lose to the Raiders, 27-0, in the divisional round. It was the start of five straight postseason losses for Miami, including last season’s 34-31 defeat at Buffalo.
2. No Super Bowl appearance since 1984
It was a magnificent season that ended with a resounding thud.
Led by second-year quarterback Dan Marino, Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins won their first 11 games in 1984 and most of them in convincing fashion. Marino lit up opposing defenses on a weekly basis and the opposition had few answers. When the regular season was said and done, the Dolphins owned a 14-2 record. They would handle the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs and wound up in Super Bowl XIX in Palo Alto, California
Their opposition that day was a team that actually had a better win-loss record than they did. The San Francisco 49ers won their first six games that season, lost at home to the Steelers, and then ran the table. Their 12th consecutive victory was an impressive 38-16 rout of the Dolphins on the aforementioned Super Sunday. Yes, that’s the last time the Dolphins made an appearance in the Super Bowl.
1. No Super Bowl championship since 1973
For many, it is somewhat blasphemous not to refer to the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the greatest team of all time. In other cases, some would find it ridiculous that another of the franchise’s teams could actually be better than the perfect 17-0 Dolphins.
Then again, numerous people have made a strong argument that the 1973 club was the more powerful team and seasoned team. They didn’t go undefeated, but they were far more dominant than their predecessors of a year earlier. When they got to the playoffs, Miami made easy work of the Cincinnati Bengals (Divisional Playoffs), Oakland Raiders (AFC Championship Game), and Minnesota Vikings (Super Bowl VIII).
What is truly fact is that the 2023 NFL season will mark the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins’ last Super Bowl victory. For many, that may be really hard to fathom.