It is my belief that Mike McDaniel no longer wants to coach the Miami Dolphins.
A leader exhibits a strong sense of accountability. A leader demonstrates resilience in the face of adversity. A leader fosters a positive work environment for those around him.
A head coach in the National Football League is supposed to be a leader. A head coach in the National Football League is not supposed to swiftly and forcefully throw his players under the bus following an embarrassing loss — yet that is exactly what Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel did following his team’s 33-8 defeat at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts during Week One of the 2025 NFL season.
McDaniel’s opening remarks while speaking with the media during his postgame press conference on Sunday exemplify why — in my opinion — Miami’s head coach would rather attempt to preserve his reputation in order to get another job in the NFL after he is inevitably canned as the Dolphins head-man-in-charge than take accountability for his part in the embarrassment encountered by his club following Sunday’s drubbing.
“I think there was a lot of preparation for Week One and I don’t think it looked it. What does that mean? It means that guys let Week One, and the bells and whistles of the season starting, get the best of them. My job is to prevent that.”
Shocking…
McDaniel continued, “I did my best. Not good enough.”
“When you play bad football, when you have, what is it, 20 minutes less in time of possession, when you don’t take the ball away, when you don’t put the [opposing] offense in negative situations, you don’t take care of the ball… You know it’s a young team having to learn some very hard lessons.”
After some more word salad, McDaniel concluded his opening remarks with this:
“It was not the way our team wanted things to go and they got some strong humility today.”
They…
Hmm, they…
Isn’t Mike McDaniel not just a part of this team, but the leader of this team? If that is the case, and it is, then he should be taking ownership of the quality of the team he is putting out on the field and using words like we and us.
It wasn’t an isolated comment, either. McDaniel continued to place the blame for his team’s poor performance squarely on his players and not on himself throughout his entire 16:20 post game press conference.
McDaniel commented on how his players lacked quality technique and fundamentals throughout the game. Mike, isn’t it the coaching staff’s job to teach those techniques and fundamentals? Shouldn’t you shoulder the blame in that area? No? Okay, then…
Speaking about Tua Tagovailoa’s play — which was admittedly horrendous — McDaniel used his comments as another opportunity to take shots at his club.
“Like the rest of the team, [the play] wasn’t good enough to win football games in the National Football League. I think that was obvious.”
Again, he’s not wrong, yet still, he made no mention of how he could have prepared the team better in order to perform at a higher level during the game he is referencing.
When asked about the Colts’ defensive scheme and how that might have confused his players, McDaniel once again claimed that his players were prepared, but just didn’t execute.
“It wasn’t that it was exotic, it was that a running back or receiver didn’t do the responsibility on the play that we emphasized a lot. What does that mean? It means that guys weren’t focused on the right things and the most difficult thing as a coach is you can see focus [throughout the week], but you don’t know what’s going on inside a person’s mind and sometimes you find out the hard way like we did today.”
Once again, I’ll translate McDaniel’s ramblings for you.
We coached them right. They executed wrong.
McDaniel looked broken, defeated and exhausted following Miami’s loss to the Colts. That is understandable, considering the fashion in which they were bested. However, as the man in charge of the product that was displayed on the field, he needs to show his fellow coaches, his players, his owner and the team’s fanbase that there is still fight left in the Miami Dolphins.
So, I will once again ask the question, does Mike McDaniel want to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins?
Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots should provide a lot of answers about the intestinal fortitude of the Dolphins and, ultimately, the type of head coach that Mike McDaniel is. Will his team rally to show that Week One was just an unfortunate speed bump to open the 2025 NFL season, or will they display another lackluster performance that leads Stephen Ross one step closer to firing everybody and starting over again?
Mike McDaniel — if you want to be here, you better take a long, hard look in the mirror and actually prepare your team for a football game this weekend. That is, if you still want to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins moving forward.
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