Mike McDaniel is a Bad Head Coach and Needs to be Fired
Why is this up for debate?
I am actually a little shocked that we are here on December 22nd and that the Miami Dolphins still employ this guy.
Mike McDaniel probably should have been fired in October, and he must be fired after the Week 18 game vs New England.
Mike McDaniel is one of the worst head coaches in the NFL today.
That isn’t hyperbole either. I got the facts to back it up.
He is inept in every which way and is clearly in way over his head as an NFL head coach.
And this is not personal in any way.
Mike seems like a great guy, he has a great backstory, and comes off as very likable.
But when it comes to job performance, he is awful as a head coach.
Just look at the number of Dolphins wins over the past four seasons when Mike took over.
It is trending in the wrong direction.
He is the guy who, when he was hired, said he could fix Tua Tagovailoa.
That failed.
In August of 2024, when Tua did a “soft hold-out” the first couple days of training camp, Mike went into panic mode and called Stephen Ross to get Tua his big contract extension done, so Tua would show up and be a full participant in practice every day.
Boy, did that blow up in everyone’s faces.
I know it’s the “cool thing” to blame everything bad with the Miami Dolphins these days on Chris Grier.
Trust me, I get it. Grier was another guy who was really bad at his job.
But McDaniel owns at least 50% of this disaster.
And if you do a deep dive on this, Mike McDaniel may be the worst game-day head coach in the NFL today.
I’m not talking about the overall record; I mean the decisions he makes in those 3 hours or so on a Sunday to help his team come out victorious.
McDaniel’s overall record is skewed because in 2022 and 2023, he had a roster so loaded that the team won despite his incompetence.
Those two seasons, the roster was so good that even he couldn’t screw it up. It was a dummy-proof roster.
In 2024 and now this year in 2025, when the roster is less talented, McDaniel can’t “coach them up,” so to speak, and lead this team to, at worst, a better-than-.500 record.
McDaniel had never been a play caller before becoming the Dolphins’ head coach, and it shows. He has struggled with the same issues for four years. If they keep him for 2026: SPOILER: He will struggle with these issues next season.
He struggles to get the plays in on time.
Causing countless wasted timeouts, delay of game penalties, or rushing to snap the ball with 1 or 2 seconds left on the play clock, giving his quarterback no time to read the defense and possibly audible.
And his ego won’t let him give up the playcalling duties to Frank Smith or Darrell Bevell.
McDaniel can’t win a challenge to save his life; that is one aspect of the game Miami is hampered by with Mike as their head coach.
In four years, no Mike McDaniel-coached team has won a “BIG” road game late in the season.
2022: SF, LAC, Buffalo (TWICE)….all four were losses.
2023: Baltimore, Kansas City (TWICE)….all 3 were losses.
2024: Buffalo, Green Bay, Houston….3 more losses.
2025: Pittsburgh…that was a loss.
Not once did his team show up (and win) for a big, meaningful road game in November/December/January.
That is almost hard to fathom.
And most of those games were not only losses but also lopsided, non-competitive affairs in which Miami never had a chance.
A couple were close losses, but far more it was Miami getting blown out.
Factor in all of these big road losses, with all of the games home or away early in the season vs bad teams or good teams when Miami didn’t show up or look prepared (Baltimore this year, the night before Halloween, Indianapolis Week 1, at Cleveland this season, losing 31-10 at home week 2 last year vs Buffalo are all perfect examples, I could list many more), and his teams are never ready.
Let’s now talk about how Miami has been embarrassed and destroyed in the third quarter of every game this season.
I don’t know what the Miami Dolphins do at halftime, but it clearly isn’t working.
Because when they come out for the 3rd quarter this year, they get their doors blown off.
They are non-competitive in the 3rd quarter.
Miami is at a -86 point differential in the 3rd quarter of games this year.
What are they doing at halftime, passing out 1st half game balls and acting like the game is already over?
Here is another doozy: since Mike McDaniel became the Miami Dolphins’ head coach, when his team is trailing at halftime, they are 4-23.
4-23!
Do you know how hard it is to be in this league, which is built on parity, and where every game seems close?
Essentially, if you have a lead on the Dolphins at halftime, congrats, you just won the game!
The odds of Miami making a comeback are nil.
Hell, the Dolphins got mocked and laughed at during a joint training camp practice with the Detroit Lions this August, where the Lions literally kicked the Dolphins’ asses from one goal post to the other.
Afterwards, every media member in attendance pointed out they had never seen an ass-whooping like this in a practice before (YES WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PRACTICE).
Forget about a Mike McDaniel team being prepared and ready for a big regular-season game; he can’t even have his team prepared and motivated for a practice!
He found a way to lose a practice and be clowned in the process. He is making history over here, in all the wrong ways.
The NFL is a results-oriented business, and Mike McDaniel is failing to provide the results.
I won’t even get into the number of veteran free agents who have fled the Miami Dolphins over the past four seasons because they didn’t enjoy playing for Mike or didn’t respect him as a head coach.
Even if you put that aside, look at everything else I have laid out above.
How can Stephen Ross let Mike McDaniel coach his billion-dollar enterprise, known as the Miami Dolphins, in 2026?
I know Mr. Ross is always occupied with Hudson Yards and his new West Palm Beach projects, but don’t ignore the Dolphins and what is going on with this football team.
You have the wrong head coach, and he is driving this organization into the ground.
Stephen Ross always preaches about “BEST IN CLASS” and how, in all aspects of business and his life, he wants to be “BEST IN CLASS.”
Memo to Mr. Ross: If you keep Mike McDaniel as your head coach in 2026, you can’t use the “BEST IN CLASS” phrase anymore.
This Dolphins fanbase is starving for a winning team. You are insulting every Dolphins fan if you decide to bring back Mike McDaniel as the head coach in 2026.
Do the right thing and Fire McDaniel after the last regular-season game in two weeks.
