The Miami Dolphins are not cursed. That narrative needs to die.

The reality of it is the Miami Dolphins, for the past 20+ years, have made many poor decisions and have a bit of bad luck, but none of it is a curse.

Every time a player gets injured or the team loses a game, people run to “the team is cursed” excuse.” Stop. Enough.

I know the Dolphins had Joe Robbie Stadium built on a Native American burial ground. But people never tell the entire story.

Which is when the artifacts were found, the Miami Dolphins stopped construction on Joe Robbie Stadium immediately for many days, called in archeologists, and let them look at the land in question and do their jobs. Per a 2022 Miami Herald article on this subject...

“Archaeologists determined some artifacts were from the Tequesta, one of the first Native American tribes to settle in South Florida. The Tequesta tribe lived in the region until the mid-1700s. Other artifacts, including copper arrowheads, were made by Seminoles living on the site in the mid-19th century. While crews excavated by hand artifacts that would have been affected by the parking lot’s construction, a “major part of the site” was preserved and is still there, surrounded by the stadium’s parking lots, Carr said.”

It is also noted from the time span in which the stadium was being built, and this was discovered that the Miami Dolphins did not begin construction again until they received permission to remove the artifacts found in question. All artifacts found during construction were donated to a local museum.

Fans and some in the media make it sound like the Dolphins had no respect for the artifacts, just took a bulldozer to it all, and had the hired construction workers use the land as an open bathroom on their breaks. When nothing could be further from the truth. The land was preserved in one key area, and the artifacts were handled with care.

So can we stop with the curse nonsense?

The answer is very easy if you want to know why Miami never seems to catch a break. Since Don Shula retired, they have hired a long line of poor decision-makers who have made poor decisions which…wait for it….never work out.

Jimmy Johnson was very good in the immediate years after Shula, but his tenure started off with some bad luck as he wanted to hire Bill Belichick as his defensive coordinator. Belichick was very much interested and very close to accepting the offer, but at the last minute, he decided instead to go with Parcells to New England, where he got the Assistant head coach title. Imagine if Belichick was the person to take over for Jimmy when he retired. The last twenty years may have been very different for the Dolphins. That has nothing to do with a curse; that is just bad luck and Parcells giving a bigger title to Belichick at the end of the day.

Miami Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga talks to the media, Monday, Jan. 10, 2005 in Davie, Fl. about the change of name of Pro Player Stadium to Dolphin Stadium and in the team’s organization during a press conference. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

Speaking of Jimmy wanting to retire, he wanted to retire after his third season as Dolphins head coach. Wayne Huizenga begged him not to and to come back for one more season. So, with half of his heart into coaching, the Dolphins had a so-so season that ended in a 62-7 embarrassing playoff loss. Again, not a curse; Huizenga, the owner, made a bad decision, not letting a man walk away when he wanted to and forcing him to coach when his heart wasn’t fully into it.

This leads us to Dave Wannstedt as Miami’s next head coach. Wannsted was actually 42-31 as coach of the Dolphins, which isn’t awful in hindsight; the issue was Huizenga gave Wannstedt total power and VETO POWER over then Dolphins general manager Rick Spielman. And during the 2003 NFL Draft in Round 2, Spielman wanted to select WR Anquan Boldin, and Wannsted used his veto power to select LB Eddie Moore. Boldin went on to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and was a 3-time pro bowl player in his 14-year NFL career. Moore was out of the league just two years after he was drafted.

Again, NOT A CURSE, a poor decision.

Then after Wannstedt came the Nick Saban era. Saban had recently won a National Championship at LSU and had huge success in the SEC. Per reports, Saban interviewed with NFL teams and Miami but wasn’t all that gung-ho about returning to the NFL. Huizenga (once again not accepting no for an answer) begged and pleaded for Nick to take the job as head coach of the Dolphins and kept upping the offer to the point Nick couldn’t say no and accepted the job on Christmas day 2004.

So once again, a poor decision by the owner, who didn’t have a head coach who was in love with the job. Poor decision.

I won’t dive deep into Dante Culpepper over Drew Brees; we know that backstory, but again, not a curse, just a poor decision.

Then Saban left and enter Cam Cameron.

Again…how is this a curse? It’s just hiring someone who totally is not qualified for the job.

Cameron goes 1-15 and puts the FOR SALE sign in his front yard a few months after taking the SOLD sign down when he bought the place. And then we have the Bill Parcells era.

Say what you want about Parcells, but he won in New York with the Giants with 2 Super Bowls, took the Patriots to another, then had the Jets in the AFC Championship game and as close as they have come to being a Championship team since the days of Joe Namath. And even in Dallas, he was 30 games over .500 with his record and had success there. In Miami, though, no such luck.

Jake Long over Matt Ryan was the first swing and a miss.

Parcells also hired Jeff Ireland as his general manager, which did not work out well.

We go through the team being sold to Stephen Ross, who then, behind the back of his current head coach Tony Sparano, tried to hire Jim Harbaugh, making the organization look low rent and lack of all class. And the downward spiral was really on here.

Again, none of this has to do with a curse, as the Miami Dolphins are not cursed.

They just continually hired poor decision-makers who were making poor decisions, which was in an office in Davie, FL, not even near the stadium or the burial ground.

Ross sticks with Ireland for far too long, which leads the organization into the abyss.

Fast forward, we get the Chris Grier/Brian Flores show. Grier has a vision of blowing up the roster, stockpiling draft picks, and getting the quarterback of his choice at the top of the 2020 draft. He executes the plan successfully with one mistake.

THE HEAD COACH HE HIRED IN, BRIAN FLORES, DIDN’T SHARE HIS VISION AND WAS TRYING TO WIN GAMES AFTER MIAMI WAS ELIMINATED FROM THE PLAYOFFS IN 2019, CAUSING MIAMI TO FALL TO THE #5 DRAFT PICK!

Then shortly after, Flores turned in the Dolphins into the NFL and sued the owner and team, costing Miami draft picks for tampering. I could go on, and on about poor decisions Chris Grier has made, but that isn’t the focus of this article.

The focus is that none of this has to do with Joe Robbie/Sun Life/Hard Rock Stadium and stuff happening on the field. Why? Because the Miami Dolphins are not cursed.

If you told me during games we had running backs fumbling at the 1-yard line or field goals constantly hitting the upright and missing in big moments, ok, then you can convince me there is a curse.

But honestly, I’m not buying into a curse when you constantly hire poor people for 20+ years who have made poor decisions in an office building in Davie, FL, for decades.

I actually wish it was a curse because curses have end dates. We saw that with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. It may take damn near 100 years, but it will end.

With poor decisions, that is a viscous cycle that only ends when….wait for it…you hire people who make smart decisions.

So stop with the curses; it’s not real. The Miami Dolphins are not cursed.