The Miami Dolphins headed into their bye week with the same problem that has followed them all season: they found too little too late.
Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals made it five straight defeats to open the 2026 NFL season, and Miami spent most of the afternoon chasing the game rather than dictating it. The Dolphins did show some late life and briefly tried to turn it into a comeback, but that push faded when an onside kick rolled out of bounds and shut the door.
For a young team that had been taking small steps forward each week, this one went the other way. The performance lacked the kind of clean execution and confidence Miami needs as it tries to regroup during the break. With 10 games still left, the bye becomes less of a rest stop and more of a reset button.
Quarterback Malik Willis was at the center of the conversation again after finishing 15-of-27 for 137 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, good for a 51.0 passer rating. The Palm Beach Post’s Joe Schad broke down the passing game with a specific eye on Willis’s arm strength, accuracy, poise/leadership, decision-making and mobility.
On decision-making, Schad gave Willis a C- and pointed to a handful of costly moments that helped sink the Dolphins.
“Malik Willis could have thrown underneath for TE Will Kacmarek but tried to force it down the field and was intercepted when the ball was tipped as he was under pressure in the second quarter.
Willis threw late and across his body on a second interception, intended for Kevin Coleman in the second quarter.
Willis was nearly intercepted a third time in the end zone, trailing 21-7 in the third quarter.
Willis wants to drive the ball down the field but he needs to take easier completions underneath. He needs to lean on his checkdowns.
There are also times where it seems Willis could step up into the pocket to deliver a throw when under edge pressure.”
That was the story of Miami’s afternoon: missed chances, pressure, and the wrong decisions at the wrong time. The Dolphins wanted the big throw, but the safer play was often sitting there underneath.
The loss also drew a wide range of reaction around the team, with the defeat to Cincinnati adding another frustrating chapter to a start that has gone off the rails. Miami now heads into the bye still searching for answers after a game that was uglier than the final score suggested.
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Manning was once viewed as the kind of prospect teams could anchor a rebuild around, but his college inconsistency has complicated that picture and made his pro outlook harder to pin down. For Miami, the appeal is obvious enough to understand: if the current quarterback search keeps going sideways, the franchise may end up weighing upside over certainty and betting that the right young talent can still be worth the risk. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Late Rally Ended In A Brutal Way Again
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The ending was especially painful because the Dolphins had every reason to believe they were about to extend the game one more step. After their final touchdown, the conversion attempt drifted off the left upright, turning a promising rally into a familiar kind of frustration for a team still searching for the right finish. [Read more 🡒]