Greg Cote: Dolphins owner Ross' prior in-season firings hint McDaniel at risk

Greg Cote, Miami Herald on Sep 23, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Optimistic Miami Dolphins fans — assuming there are any left right now; forgive the presumptuousness — could find a way to be (relatively) encouraged coming out of Thursday night’s game.

Sure, yeah: 0-3. But the Fins had gotten better or if you prefer less worse each game, right? The last one against the Super Bowl-favorite Bills was tied in the fourth quarter before the Dolphins Dolphined.

Plus, the next two games were against the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, teams you expect to beat. “We’ll be 2-3,” surmised Optimistic Dolfan. “Then who knows?”

Then Sunday came. Uh-oh. The Jets and Panthers both were good. The Jets led unbeaten Tampa Bay with less than of two minutes left and should have won — coach Aaron Glenn had already done a sideline victory dance — before losing 29-27 on a last-second field goal. And Carolina absolutely crushed Atlanta 30-0.

Now the Dolphins’ vault to 2-3 does seem nearly so routine, so assumed or assured.

Because here’s the thing about being 0-3: Other teams look at YOU like the team they’re expected to beat.

The depth of the Dolphins’ dire straits cannot be overstated if making the playoffs is how a season is to be judged — which it is likely to be, and should be, in terms of coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier keeping their jobs.

In NFL history, only six times has an 0-3 team made the playoffs. The most recent was Houston in 2018. Before that it was 1998.

In the Dolphins’ eight previous times starting 0-3, the team has never made the playoffs or even finished .500. And now that 0-3 start could get worse if Sunday’s Jets and Panthers performances were any indication.

Would McDaniel or Grier even last beyond a start that sank to 0-5 or even 1-4? It would be early, but there is precedent.

The Dolphins have made an in-season coaching change only three times, in 2004, 2011 and 2015.

The last two were under current owner Stephen Ross. In 2011 he fired Tony Sparano at 4-9. In 2015 he fired Joe Philbin at 1-3.

Notably, Sparano and Philbin both were in their fourth seasons as head coach ... just lke McDaniel is now. In fairness, Sparano had made the playoffs like McDaniel; Philbin had not.

Still, suffice to say Ross, at age 85, is unlikely more patient now than he was 10 and 14 years earlier.

This is not to say history will repeat, only that precedent is there, and that the situation could become Code Red should Miami fall to 0-4 or 0-5.

McDaniel had said of his job security (or insecurity): “I think if I worry about my job security, I won’t be doing my job. I won’t spend one moment thinking about all the things that ... whatever people want me to think about.”

Fans are thinking about; many rooting for a change. Media is thinking about it. Bettors are, too. McDaniel at 1-7 odds is the first-to-be-fired favorite by a landslide.

No indication yet whether Ross, the only one who matters, is yet thinking about it. Or could be soon.

For now, the contrast in the Dolphins’ position and that of the cross-town Miami Hurricanes could not be more stark.

The Dolphins desperately try to find a way to solve the Jets next Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium as early 2 1/2 point favorites, with some already mocking the winless matchup as the Game of the “Weak.” And it might be. But it also is an oft-bitter old rivalry now drenched in a desperation that will foment its own drama as two teams try to save their seasons, and as one owner perhaps weighs a decision he may be facing.

Meantime the 4-0 Canes and coach Mario Cristobal preen with a No. 2 national ranking as they use this bye week preparing to visit No. 8 Florida State. (No betting line yet for that one.)

In the past 20 years UM has been ranked as high as No. 2 only once, in 2017. A nightmare ensued. Mark Richt’s Canes immediately lost three straight: At Pitt, to Clemson in the ACC title game, and then to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl.

Cristobal’s current iteration is better than UM was in ‘17, and it isn’t close.

Canes have fans have been given no reasons to doubt their team this season.

Dolphins fans are still looking for reasons NOT to.

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