Have The Miami Dolphins Blown Their Super Bowl Playoff Hopes

The 2022 NFL regular season is approaching a thrilling finale, with each team having only one fixture remaining. Eleven of the 14 playoff spots are already taken, so the race is well and truly on to fill the remaining berths. Two sports are remaining in the AFC, but the Miami Dolphins may have blown their chances of reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Rewind to November 27, and the Miami Dolphins were flying high with an 8-3 record. Not only did a long-awaited return to playoff action look inevitable, but the Dolphins featured in many of the best Super Bowl prop bets online, with some pundits predicting a possible first Super Bowl victory in 50 years. However, fastforward to today, and the Dolphins' late-season collapse has seen them lose five consecutive games, and they enter the final week with an 8-8 record and need results to go their way if they are to reach the NFL playoffs.

The Dolphins' route to the playoffs is simple, although their destiny is no longer in their hands. Dolphins must defeat the New York Jets, who can no longer reach the playoffs, and the New England Patriots must lose to Super Bowl favorites, the Buffalo Bills, in Week 18. The Jets slipped to 7-9 over the weekend, so they have nothing but pride to play for, while the Buffalo Bills could rest key personnel, having already clinched a playoff place. It would be heartbreaking for Dolphins fans to see their team beat the Jets but still bow out after the patriots brush aside the Bills.

A Difficult Task and Challenging Opponents

If, and it is a big if, the Dolphins manage to navigate their way to the playoffs, they will face difficult opponents. Due to how the playoff seeding works, the Dolphins are guaranteed to be the seventh seed in the AFC, meaning they will face the Bills, the in-form Kansas City Chiefs, or the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round. None of those teams is an attractive proposition, but the Dolphins would be delighted to still be in the mix when the Wild Card fixtures occur.

The Dolphins would have had a playoff place nailed down if they had managed to beat the New England Patriots on January 1. They went into the half-time interval tied 7-7 before marching into a 14-7 lead early in the third quarter. However, the Patriots scored 16 unanswered points, including a 39-yard interception touchdown by Kyle Dugger. Dolphins scored a touchdown and the extra point with a little over one minute remaining, leading to Patriots' quarterback Mac Jones kneeling twice and bringing the game to its conclusion, the Patriots running out 23-21 winners.

Dolphins Need Tua Back in Action

Dolphins' head coach Mike McDaniel is hopeful quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is passed fit for the final game of the season. The much-maligned Tagovailoa has enjoyed his best season as a professional, but injuries have put the brakes on several times. Tagovailoa missed three games with a concussion and was out of action against the Patriots after suffering his second concussion of the season a week earlier against the Green Bay Packers. Teddy Bridgewater stepped in for Tagovailoa against the Patriots, but he sustained a finger injury in the third quarter, leading to rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson, a 247th overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, stepping in for a rare appearance.

There is much talk right now about the Dolphins entering the free agent market and bringing in a quarterback for the final game of the season should Tagovailoa not pass concussion protocols. Bridgewater is also injured and too erratic to lead a team when a cool head is required, while Thompson is far from ready to be a competent backup.

Have The Miami Dolphins Blown Their Super Bowl Playoff Hopes to NFL Football Blog

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