It’s simply a fact of life that if you get broken up with, the last thing you want to see is your ex immediately move on to better things. Unfortunately for the Miami Dolphins and their fans, we’re in a position to watch that happen this Sunday during the Super Bowl.
Former Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has the Eagle’s excellent defense in position to write their names into the history books and prevent the Kansas City Chiefs from being the first team to ever Three-Peat (trademark Pat Riley) in NFL history.
This isn’t an entirely unfamiliar situation. In fact, it wouldn’t even be the worst case of a coach leaving for brighter pastures in Dolphins history. We watched Nick Saban fumble his way to a 15-17 record with Miami over two seasons while repeatedly denying rumors that he was going to take the job at Alabama.
Saban would, of course, eventually take the job and win 6 National Championships, becoming the greatest college coach in history. The prospect of Fangio winning a Super Bowl title won’t hurt as badly as what happened with Saban, but it would certainly leave a distinctly sour taste in the mouths of fans.
When Fangio was hired to replace Josh Boyer, an immense feeling of hope came with him. In the first season under Mike McDaniel, Dolphins fans were introduced to a modern offense and, with it, success that they could only have dreamed of under the previous regimes.
Fangio represented the missing piece that would make the Dolphins a legitimate title contender. In 2018, the ProFootball Writers Association and the Associated Press named him the Assistant Coach of the Year after he helped the Bears make the playoffs, in large part due to his third-ranked defense. He would parlay that into a head coaching gig with the Denver Broncos, and while the team never found success, posting a 19-30 record, his defenses would remain a high point.
In fact, many credit him with providing the blueprint for slowing down the pass-heavy offense that dominated the league in the late 2010s and early 2020s. However, the honeymoon period after his hiring would not last very long.
From the beginning, it felt as if Fangio did not want to be coaching in Miami. He even made a comment about his favorite part of the day being when he was driving home listening to music from the 70s. Despite this the Dolphins did finish the season ranked 10th in total defense and 7th against the run. The stout defense and electric offense allowed them to start the season out 11-4 before losing their final two games and eventually being eliminated by the eventual Super Bowl Champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the Wildcard round of the playoffs.
The defense collapsed against Baltimore, giving up 56 points, and was unable to slow down Patrick Mahomes in Arrowhead. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances. The team lost key players such as Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips, Andrew Van Ginkel, Jerome Baker, Javon Holland, and Xavien Howard for stretches of time at the end of the season. This forced the team to sign Melvin Ingram, Justin Houston, and Bruce Irvin off of their couches in a desperate attempt to at least throw bodies at the issue.
When he was asked about what went wrong last season he pointed to the lack of playmakers available late in the season.
“Nothing really. Up until the last couple of games, we were ranked very high in defense. We were top-five in every stat. Then we lost six of seven starters over the last few games.”
That response is fair enough, but it ignores the general feeling around his departure. Famously, Jevon Holland posted a video of him kicking rocks in response to Fangio leaving. Jalen Ramsey implied that Fangio misused Xavien Howard and himself on X. According to ESPN, a source close to the team said Fangio was “not a good culture fit in Miami’s player-friendly environment”.
This was a narrative fans latched onto in the wake of the separation, convincing ourselves that we were better off without the hardline approach favored by Fangio. Anthony Weaver was hired, and the defense improved to being ranked 4th overall, which got Weaver some interest from other teams to be their head coach. However, the top 5 finish provided little comfort when the Dolphins missed the playoffs, and the Eagles finished as the top-ranked unit.
So now we must endure a game that, if it were to end with a Philadelphia victory, would mean that Fangio might have been right to be frustrated with his players. Perhaps the Dolphins were too soft, maybe the player first approach is only the right way to go if you want to win acclaim from player surveys but not so much if you want to win championships. Or perhaps I’m thinking about this too deeply: the football fan equivalent of a jilted ex.
Regardless, I’ll be rooting for Patrick Mahomes to lead the Chiefs to a three-peat (trademark Pat Riley) if only so I can hold onto hope that we’re doing things the right way in Miami.
For more sports opinions, you can follow me on YouTube @WickedGoodSports and for opinions on reality TV, you can follow me on X @TheFakeBMarr
