After a Week 7 road loss on a Sunday afternoon in Cleveland dropped the Dolphins to 1-6, owner Stephen Ross opted against making any changes. A Week 8 upset of the Falcons seemed to stop the bleeding.
Now, after a sluggish 28-6 home defeat before a national, prime-time audience, the tourniquet has come loose.
So what will Ross do?
The Dolphins are 2-7 and, as a practical matter, eliminated from playoff consideration. Barring a miracle. The mini-bye has arrived, two games before the team’s annual week off.
Will Ross make a major change as to coach Mike McDaniel, G.M. Chris Grier, or both?
These are fair questions to ask. Every year, roughly 25 percent of the league ends up looking for new head coaches. Coaches and General Manages get fired all the time. It’s the life they’ve chosen. The only question at this point for the Dolphins seems to be when, not if.
So when? That depends on Ross. Maybe he wants to ride out the bad season, to take his lumps in order to improve the team’s 2026 draft positioning, in every round.
The status quo is becoming a hard sell at Hard Rock Stadium. The boo birds were flapping their wings repeatedly on Thursday night. Paper bags were on the heads of plenty of fans. One guy poked two holes in a popcorn bucket.
It becomes embarrassing. It becomes non-sustainable. The fans eventually want something, anything. They want the owner to do what they would do.
At this point, the fans would say, “Enough.”
Will Ross?
Next up for the Dolphins is the annual visit from the Bills, followed by a trip to Madrid for a game against the Commanders. Before that, Ross will have to decide whether to stay the course.
Or whether to dramatically alter it.