There is no question that the 2007 Miami Dolphins season is the worst in franchise history. Not even the fledgling inaugural season could match it, and that says a lot.
Every Dolphins fan knows that season was a 1-15 disaster that led to a one-and-done head coaching career for Cam Cameron, but the problems that year started long before Cameron stepped on the sideline to lose his first 13 games.
The 2007 season started late in 2006 when Nick Saban lied about the Alabama job and abruptly quit after the conclusion of his final NFL season. Miami went into panic mode with then-owner Wayne Huizenga facing another head coaching search that he wasn't expecting.
Miami interviewed a lot of coaches ahead of hiring Cameron, including Mike Tomlin. They passed on Tomlin for being too "hip-hop," according to media reports at the time. Cameron was one of more than a dozen coaches interviewed, but ultimately the one they hired.
The Dolphins made a lot of changes after Saban left. They fired Dan Quinn and a slew of other assistant coaches, but they retained GM Randy Mueller, giving him full control over the roster, something he did not have with Saban.
The Miami Dolphins' 1-15 season was over long before it began
That was only the beginning of Miami's downfall. With Mueller at the helm, and the team desperately needing a quarterback after releasing Daunte Culpepper, Mueller and Cameron conspired on the night prior to the draft to inform Huizenga they were taking receiver Ted Ginn Jr.
Miami's answer to their QB dilemma was Cleo Lemon, John Beck, and Trent Green. Green started five games before leaving the NFL for good after another concussion, Beck started four games, losing all of them, and was completely lost, leaving Lemon as the de facto starter for seven games.
The start of camp was met with a lot more disdain from several players. While Dolphins fans openly booed Cameron after the Ginn selection, Jason Taylor butted heads with Cameron immediately. He and Zach Thomas knew that season was going to be bad. It was, and Taylor once said publicly, that Cameron was an "idiot."
Fellow veteran outside linebacker Vonnie Holliday would later take exception to John Harbaugh defending Cameron a year after he was fired.
Harbaugh told the media prior to a game against the Dolphins with Cameron as a Ravens assistant that Cameron did well with what he had to work with. Holliday's response?
"With what he had to work with? That’s the key, huh? What did we have to work with as players? It’s clear this year we have a direction."
Miami would finish the year with one win, thanks to an overtime victory over the Ravens when Lemon hit Greg Camarillo on a crossing route. Had the Ravens made the 44-yard field goal attempt in overtime, Miami would have finished the season winless.
Following the season, Bill Parcells was brought on to oversee the football side of the organization. He immediately fired Cameron and then Mueller, but that too started another journey of ineptitude, false hope, and poor play.