The Miami Dolphins and their December Problems

[CSKreager]

For many many years, the Miami Dolphins had a tendency to always fade in December from about 1989-2003, the last stretch of when Miami was truly relevant from a big picture perspective in the NFL.

Other than maybe 1989 or 1991, they always blazed out of the gates. But many a time, they always faded late.

1989- While they didn't start out fast (1-3), they got going midseason en route to 7-4. But they lost 4 of their last 5 (the epic rain game against Pittsburgh, two losses vs. KC, a 42-13 blasting at Indy that began with a blocked punt for a TD.

1990- They went 3-2 in December (not terrible by future MIA December standards0, but they got blasted by a meh Redskins team and lost the winner-take-all game at Buffalo.

1991- Got off to a 3-5 start, with the low point coming in the Houston game when Cris Dishman forced a Sammie Smith fumble at the goal line. Won 5 of their next 6, had 2 shots to make the playoffs. But gave up 28 4th quarter points to a 3-11 Chargers team (Dan Henning's last win as a coach), then blew the finale to the 1991 Jets, maybe the least talented team to make the playoffs in the 1990-2001 3-division 6-team era.

1992- A rare exception. 3-1 in December (Did win the last 3 games of the reg. season after a discouraging set of losses to the Saints/49ers). Would have been interesting to see what happened if Buffalo won the '92 reg. season finale and the Oilers Wild Card game instead is at Miami.

1993- 9-2 to 9-7. Nuff said (Although if the Raiders don't come from way back against Denver in the last game of the season, they STILL would have gotten in.

1994- 2-2 in December, though a 10-6 headscratcher to the Colts cost them a 2 seed. Had they won, San Diego would have had to go to Miami instead of vice-versa.

1995- In in infamously underachieving season, they actually were 3-1 in December (their problems this year were October/November. Had the Raiders not collapsed from 8-2, they couldn't have fared any worse in Buffalo. OAK at least doesn't give up 300 rushing yards!

1996- 2-2 in December. Bad losses to the Raiders/Giants, but unlike prior Dolphin teams, they weren't exactly on the cusp of a major SB shot.

1997- 9-5 with two weeks to go. Get blasted 41-0 at Indianapolis, lose homefield for the playoff game vs. NE on the last game of the season. Marino was a disaster at Foxboro. Even at that, had they not somehow lost to a 3-win Bears team, they could have still gotten a higher playoff seed.

1998- 2-2 in December (though the ATL game they got blasted in, they somehow still got the 4 seed over Buffalo). Nothing egregious, the Jet loss on SNF was no fun, but not an epic collapse.

1999- This was a biggie- 8-2 start, only win one game the rest of the reg. season (and that was only because SD missed a field goal and squandered redzone chances. Got lucky with SEA winning AFC West- they wouldn't have beaten KC at Arrowhead.

2000- 10-3 start, lose a couple of close games at home to TB/IND, flirted with disaster, but the Jets had a bigger swoon. Won AFC East, won playoff game (Jay Fiedler beat Peyton Manning. Never forget.)

2001- Finish 4-2, but the losses to San Francisco and New England cost them the AFC East. Would have been very interesting had they gotten the 2 seed and forced New England to go the WC route.

2002- Start 9-5. Lose to a giant killing Vikings team, bad play-caling at Foxboro in the finale, go from potential 1 seed to no playoffs just like that.

2003- Losses in a blizzard at New England and on MNF to Philadelphia KO'd them despite winning their last two games.


More often than not, they would play very good through December, then things go South.

Why did Miami always seem to blow it at the end despite good starts and a squad of decent teams?

[7DnBrnc53]

In 1991, I think the run defense just collapsed against San Diego (Rod Bernstine had a long run in that game, I think) and against the Jets.

In 1993, Terry Kirby fumbled inside the five yard line after a long catch and run on a MNF game against Pittsburgh in December. If he doesn't fumble, and they score, they would have been in the playoffs. Also, I think that they were robbed of a TD catch at the end of regulation in Week 17 against NE.

[Bryan]

Why did Miami always seem to blow it at the end despite good starts and a squad of decent teams?

I usually attributed the later years to the Dolphins continuing to roll out Jay Fiedler at the QB spot. Every year, their luck would run out at about the same time.

[7DnBrnc53]

What I don't understand about the 90 and 92 Dolphins: In their 1990 playoff loss at Buffalo (that I watched online the other day), they had 27 rushing attempts for 107 yards (Sammie Smith had 99). After cutting the lead to three points early in the fourth (on a Marino to Roy Foster tackle eligible TD pass), Dolphin LB Mike Reichenbach came close to getting an INT around mid-field.

The Bills ended up pulling away after that, but the Dolphins hung around until the fourth by running the ball, which is what they refused to do two years later against Buffalo in the AFC Title Game. They only had 11 attempts for 33 yards.

The second quarter was the most galling. Marino had a pass blocked that was intercepted by Phil Hansen, and it led to a field goal. On the ensuing drive, Marino has another pass blocked, and Shula was just standing there with his arms folded. When I saw that, I wondered if either of them should have been back the next year. It's not surprising that they never won a title together after seeing that display.

Later in that quarter, they had a drive where Aaron Craver (I think) was running a sweep around right end around Buffalo's 30 yard line, but then pitches it back to Marino for a flea flicker. Dan is then sacked after a few seconds. Unbelievable. Why didn't they just run the sweep? The yards looked like they were there.