Over the past 25 years, the Miami Dolphins, who were once great, have struggled. They haven’t won a postseason game since defeating the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card game in 2000. You can figure out that it’s been a very long time without using a Texas Instruments TI-85 graphing calculator.
Pointing the blame at the head coach is obviously quite simple, but they aren’t the ones playing football, you know. Although they are the show’s boss, would Vince Lombardi have been a legend if he had had quarterbacks other than Dan Marino from the Dolphins to deal with?
Jay Fiedler, Damon Huard, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, John Beck (do you remember him?), Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen, Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill, Jay Cutler, Brock Osweiler, Ryan Fitzpatrick (who didn’t he play for?), Josh Rosen (ouch), Tua Tagovailoa, and a number of other players who started because Tua was injured.
That is a ridiculous number of quarterbacks. It says that none of them were really good, or else they would have lasted, even though it clearly indicates instability. And the head coaching scenario is significantly impacted by that. Two Dolphins coaches made the list of the worst 25 NFL head coaching hires of this century, according to Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports, and for good cause.
No. 3: Cam Cameron
Record: 1-15
In 2007, the Dolphins were a complete embarrassment. The Dolphins would have entered the record books if it weren’t for their incredible overtime victory over the Baltimore Ravens. They would have held the record (perhaps permanently) for being the first team in NFL history to have both an undefeated season (1972) and a “defeated” season, in addition to becoming the first team to go winless in a season since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 1976 expansion season.
Benjamin comments, “This is what you get when Nick Saban quits abruptly from atop the staff.” With the San Diego Chargers, Cameron managed some explosive offenses, but Miami had its worst season in forty years under his first and last NFL head coaching stint. Cameron’s one-year stint was made more disturbing by the fact that Miami passed up future Steelers legend Mike Tomlin to hire him, forcing him to switch between an aging Trent Green and backups Cleo Lemon and John Beck at center.
That does indeed sting. As of now, Tomlin is still employed by the team that hired him back then. Here are the highlights of Cameron’s lone “good day” in 2007 courtesy of Greg Camarillo:
No. 24: Nick Saban
Record: 15-17
Has the Nick Saban experiment ever caused the Dolphins to bounce back? Recovery would suggest that they were doing well before he arrived in Miami, which is definitely not the case. Because there are so many moving parts, hiring a major NCAA coach by an NFL team is always a risk. Although it was a calculated gamble, signing Saban in 2005 didn’t work out.
Benjamin states that Saban’s brief reign in South Florida was regrettable because to the wider ramifications rather than the record. At the time of his arrival, he was a rising star and an LSU national champion ready to revitalize a legendary team. Then, weeks after saying he would not do so, he notoriously failed to sign Drew Brees, a free-agent quarterback, and left for the Alabama position. Although anyone may change their mind, Saban’s sudden departure put Miami in disarray, and the Dolphins are still somewhat of a disaster today.
Does anyone recall the Drew Brees fiasco? The club failed to get Brees medically cleared following a shoulder injury at the end of the 2005 season, so Saban isn’t solely to blame for missing out on him. If you don’t recall, he later signed with the New Orleans Saints, and the Dolphins traded Daunte Culpepper for a second-round pick from the Minnesota Vikings. Whoops. It makes sense why Saban didn’t want to stay.
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