Right now, it's hard to have much optimism as a fan of the Miami Dolphins

The parting of defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, has started the offseason for the Miami Dolphins on a very deflating note and it currently doesn't look like it's going to get any better.

I realize that's a very pessimistic and hopeless way to describe the present and the future of the Miami Dolphins but I don't know how else you can look at it besides having blind faith.

To the blind faith people who will always believe in what this football team does, bless your hearts. I don't know how you do it. Do you just use the "MIB-neuralizer" to erase your memory every night? Are you in on Aaron Rodger's stash? I'm not judging I'm just saying I think I may need both to feel better about what is happening with the Miami Dolphins.

There are reasons for my current state of extreme pessimism. First, the season ended in embarrassing fashion. So many chances starting with the end of the Titans game and ending with the Bills at home up 14-7 in the 4th quarter only to see Tua and the offense vomit all over themselves in the closing minute, something this offense and Tua are really good at.

In between those games was the Ravens game, where I witnessed firsthand what an actual well-run football team looks like as they scored 56 points as if the Dolphins were the Little Giants. On top of that huge, embarrassing failure, Mike McDaniel forgot he was coaching a football team in the final few minutes and didn't realize Bradley Chubb was still out there. We know what happened next.

This meant going on the road to where they shot the scenes for Frozen in Kansas City and watching the offense put up a nifty seven points while the defense did all it could to hold Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to only two TDs and a bunch of field goals.

The season ends and Chris Grier, the guy who has been putting this all together, still keeps his job, promising the same way that business gets done in Miami will continue to happen in Miami.

Finally, Vic Fangio and the Miami Dolphins parted ways yesterday afternoon. I wish I could say I was surprised but I really wasn't. I feel you watched Hard Knocks and listened to the times Fangio addressed the media he wasn't exactly feeling the situation in Miami.

He's said to be heading to Philadelphia, where he was some kind of a consultant for them last year, and that he wants to be closer to his family. I'll have to get the story from him when I run into him at Ragnacci's in NEPA. I'll be sure to ask him just how the operation was completely different from any other coaching stint he ever had. I know he must have some good stuff to say about that.

The worst part of Vic Fangio leaving Miami is that Grier and company should have known he didn't want to be here last year when they were courting him and then proceeded to pay him handsomely. I wanted Fangio here badly when the reports were coming out because he is that damn good. But if he really was just taking a job just to take it and get paid, something I don't begrudge anyone doing, they should have identified that and not gone ahead with the move.

The players are thrilled that Fangio is gone. I guess his old-school approach didn't go over well. I remember another recent team who fired a coach, and that unit's players rejoiced because they didn't like him. That team was the Broncos, and the coach was Butch Barry. How'd that work out?

So this leaves the Miami Dolphins about to have their third defensive coordinator in three years. It would be cool if the guys Miami kept bringing were killing it and were getting head coaching jobs, but it's not tha.

We know some of the candidates being thrown around. Current linebackers coach Anthony Campanile, who was very animated on Hard Knocks and seems like he has that Dan Campbell vibe, is being reported as being a potential option. Also, Brandon Staley is being connected to Miami. Let me just say if Staley gets hired I might just go live in a cave. I just don't know if I can handle two coaches with Staley and McDaniel who never hold anyone ever accountable. But not holding anyone accountable is the Dolphin's calling card. It's why Grier is still here.

On top of all that, you look at the Dolphins' cap situation, and you have to start to wonder how they can possibly improve. The truth is the team on the field next season will be worse than last year's team. I'm not saying that next year's team can't win more. Anything can happen. I'm saying there will be no good reason to talk yourself into next year's team in August, over this past season's team.

The Dolphins have so many guys to release, and they will. But they also have so many young guys to resigning to long-term deals. They can't possibly bring back all of them. Christian Wilkins, Jevon Holland, Robert Hunt, Jaylen Waddle, Connor Williams, Andrew Van Ginkel, Jaelan Phillips, and Tua Tagovailoa, not all of these guys are going to be back next year. That's a fact. One or two of them are going to be gone.

And it's not like the Miami Dolphins, since Mike McDaniel has gotten there, has hit on many draft picks. They hit on De'Von Achane, and that's about it. They have a 1st rounder this year, so we'll see what they, ultimately, do with it.

It's just sad that this team seems like they have zero direction. I don't know what they're trying to do, and I think they don't know too much about what they want to be. It feels like they care more about having fun than doing everything it takes to win. I'm not saying I want the Brian Flores approach where everyone hates going into the building, but there must be some balance between fun and accountability.

And let's not act like the AFC is going to be weaker than this year. Joe Burrow will be coming back, Jim Harbaugh will have the Chargers playing smart football while having Justin Herbert, and the Texans don't seem like they're going anywhere. That same Texans team blew it up twice since the Laremy Tunsil deal and won a playoff game before Miami did. Think about that for a minute.

When free agency begins, I will get excited for the guys that get brought in. When the draft gets here I will be amped about the players Miami selects. I will figure out how all of the Dolphins' picks are solid and stealthy good picks. I'll do that because I'm a fan and it's easy to talk yourself into anything in April.

But right now, the future looks bleak. The future is bleak and the Miami Dolphins aren't even rebuilding. Remember, next year is a going for it all, type of year. After next season, the quote-unquote rebuild will probably be upon us. Sorry, that is the reality we are living in.