The Dolphins are feeling the heat in South Beach.
Miami dropped to 1-5 on the season thanks to Sunday’s 29-27 loss to the Chargers, the second straight defeat in which the team has seen a lead evaporate in the final two minutes of a game, necessitating quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to field a question about how to avoid a “woe is me” attitude postgame.
Tagovailoa pointed to leaning on leaders, though as he continued, he revealed a potential culture crisis in the locker room.
“I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we’re expecting out of the guys,” Taovailoa said, via team transcript. “We’re expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late. Guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There is a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make that mandatory? Do we not have to make that mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. It starts with the little things like that.”
Asked for clarification that he was really saying teammates were late or missing players-only meetings, Tagovailoa said, “Late. Yeah.”
Players not prioritizing meetings held by their peers to stay on the same page is troubling, and has foreshadowed the Dolphins not showing up when most needed throughout the 2025 season on the field.
That includes Sunday, when the Dolphins’ offense was beset by turnovers and their defense allowed the Chargers to convert a 44-yard game-winning field goal drive after holding a lead with 46 seconds to play.
A back-and-forth affair was kept that way partly due to Tagovailoa’s poor performance, as the QB went 21 of 32 for 205 yards, one touchdown and three picks — though one was in desperation late. He did rebound, leading two fourth-quarter TD drives to jump ahead 27-26 after trailing by 13 during the final frame, but it was too little, too late after continually handing the Chargers momentum earlier in the game.
With the result on the line, Justin Herbert went to work, and a Bolts offense battered by injuries stormed into field-goal range on the strength of a 42-yard reception by Ladd McConkey. Cameron Dicker converted on the 33-yard kick to win it, helping send the Fins to their worst start through six games during the Mike McDaniel era.
The Dolphins endured similar woes early last year, but much of it was because of Tagovailoa missing games, and they stormed back from 2-6 to make an ill-fated but gutsy playoff push before finishing 8-9.
While such a turnaround still has time to happen this year, the vibes in Miami have seemed off for months — highlighted by edge rusher Bradley Chubb saying in June the team was “lying” about culture change the season prior and by Tagovailoa’s recent admission regarding attendence at players-only meetings.
