Brian Flores has turned around the Miami Dolphins very quickly and has them as contenders

Dolphins Knocking on the Door, Thanks to Brian Flores

It seems as though the Dolphins have been lost since Don Shula and Dan Marino stepped down. The common narrative in regards to the Miami Dolphins is that they have been trying to find their franchise quarterback since Dan Marino retired. Although that is true and the easiest way to find success in the NFL is with a competent QB, the Dolphins have been searching for a head coach as well. Shula, the only perfect and winningest head coach in NFL history, tallied a record of 347-173-6 in his hall of fame career. Shula coached the Dolphins for 26 seasons and in the 25 years since Miami is 188-202 under 11 different head coaches. Excluding Todd Bowles, who coached 3 games as interim head coach in 2011, the Dolphins have only two coaches with winning records in their tenures with the team. Jimmy Johnson was 36-28 in his four seasons, and Dave Wannstedt was 42-31 in his four and a half seasons.

All of these statistics are important when you compare them to Brian Flores. Flores is 8-14 in his Miami Dolphins coaching career which equates to a .364 winning percentage. So why am I praising the current head coach after hearing those numbers? Because he is good and deserves praise before the team takes off. His coaching style goes way beyond his winning percentage. Flores is a leader of men, a player’s coach, and the coach of the future for the Dolphins.

Brian Flores is a byproduct of the Bill Belichick coaching tree. We have seen ex-Patriot coaches become head coaches in the NFL and struggle. Although you would not categorize Flores’ head coaching start as fantastic, the feel surrounding Miami is different this time around. The biggest trait Flores carried over from Bill Belichick is his game planning. Coach Flo is one of the best at this and is able to alter his approach each week. If you tuned into week 8’s game against the Rams, you saw a Rams offense that looked eerily familiar to the one we saw in the Super Bowl in 2019. Surprise, Brian Flores was the defensive coordinator of the Patriots at the time. The Dolphins essentially duplicated that game and made Jared Goff and Sean McVay uncomfortable the entire game. Under Brian Flores, Miami has consistently been one of the least penalized teams in the entire league, which portrays the discipline instilled in each player. In addition to his game planning and sculpting his team, the tight-knit locker room that Flores has created is what is driving Miami to success. Coach Flores has created a culture in Miami that is unlike any we have seen in many years. Every player and coach is held responsible for their actions. The team is comprised of unselfish and team-first players, which makes the locker room cohesive. There have been reports coming out that Flores could “lose the locker room” by making a mid-season switch to QB Tua Tagovailoa when Ryan Fitzpatrick was playing admirably. The team that showed up to Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday certainly did not look like a team with locker room issues. The Dolphins played inspired football and like a team that wants national respect. This entire Dolphins organization is aware that it takes every player and coach to buy into the system to build a winning culture.

In 2019, Flores’ first season as head coach, the Miami Dolphins roster consisted of nearly 50% undrafted free agents. To put that into perspective, only 33 total undrafted players made the initial 53-man rosters in the entire NFL this season. Halfway through last season, the Dolphins were tagged as being on pace to be the worst team in NFL history. The national media was calling for the commissioner to step in and investigate the team for “tanking.” They claimed Miami was intentionally losing games to elevate their draft stock. They also went as far as to say the players should not risk injury for a team that does not care about them. Through all of that, a team comprised of undrafted players, and a 0-7 start to the season, Brian Flores did not flinch. His locker room still believed in him and he led the team to a 5-4 record in the last 9 games of the season. The more a team loses in the NFL, the less credible the coaching staff becomes. Players stop believing in the philosophy and stop playing their hardest. Whether the Dolphins started 0-7 or 7-0, the winning culture Flores created allowed the team to play their best football down the stretch. Fast forward to 2020 where the roster was turned over yet again. Not only is the 2020 roster completely different than the previous seasons, but the entire NFL is also different due to COVID-19.

There was a limited off-season and no pre-season games to get ready for the upcoming season. This set up another challenge for Flores and the Dolphins. The entire culture and mentality Flores worked so hard on in 2019, had to be taught again. The Dolphins started the season slow (as expected) but have caught fire recently. Winners in three out of their last four games, the Dolphins you see now are not the same ones you saw in the first few weeks. Similarly to last season, Miami is getting hot at the right time. Their defense currently ranks #1 in the NFL in scoring and have won their four games this year by 18, 26, 24, and 11 points. It seems as though Flores and his staff have the full confidence of their players and each player believes in one another. As we saw last season, the Dolphins are gelling as a collective unit at the mid-way point. With more talent on the roster, the Dolphins are set up for a nice playoff run over the next nine games with a chance at winning the division or a wild-card spot. Before the 2019 season, we knew this was going to be a three-year rebuild. In year two, we are already seeing vast improvement as an organization. The 25-year coaching search seems to be resolved, and the 20-year quarterback search seems to be over. The Dolphins’ future is as bright as it’s ever been. Brian Flores’ 8-14 coaching record will turn into a winning record in no time. Free agents want to take their talents to South Beach, teammates want to play for Brian Flores and fans want to root for him. Brian Flores is on the brink of building something special in Miami and deserves all the praise he has earned.

 

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