The Miami Dolphins are only two weeks into the season, but questions about Mike McDaniel’s future have already started. Back-to-back losses: first a 33-8 blowout by the Colts, then a 33-27 collapse at home to the Patriots, have left fans frustrated enough to start a GoFundMe campaign just to drift a planer over Hard Rock stadium towing a banner reading “Fire Grier, Fire McDaniel.” But the frustration, leading up to this moment, may very well have been building since 1984– the last time the team appeared in a Super Bowl. 

 By midweek, NFL insider Ian Rapoport laid out the state of play: “Stephen Ross, the Dolphins owner, does not want to fire Mike McDaniel. He doesn’t…He wants this to work. He likes him, he believes in him, he has invested in him… My sense is nothing is imminent for the Dolphins on that front. However, there’s a caveat— that can change. If fans suddenly stop showing up to the stadium, or if players stop playing for him, that can alter the situation.”

That’s why the next stretch on the schedule matters so much. Miami now heads to Buffalo to face a Bills team that’s 2-0 and has beaten the Dolphins six straight times. After that come matchups against fellow 0-2 teams, the Jets and the Panthers, games that will either slow the panic or accelerate it. Even if McDaniel survives the expected loss in Buffalo, a continued slide against struggling opponents could push Ross into the very scenario Rapoport outlined. And as the pressure builds, so too do the whispers about who might be waiting in the wings.

NFL insider Andrew Fillipponi recently fanned the flames with a tweet, suggesting a familiar name is on owner Stephen Ross’s radar. “Something to consider,” he wrote, “The Dolphins going after Mike Tomlin when Mike McDaniel is fired as Miami coach. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has tried hiring Tom Brady and Jim Harbaugh. He likes BIG names. Food for thought.” And that, right there, is the rub. 

The Miami Dolphins passed on hiring Mike Tomlin back in 2007, reportedly because he was “too hip-hop.” They went with Cam Cameron instead, who promptly led them to a 1-15 season, a special kind of football futility. Tomlin, meanwhile, went on to become an institution with the Steelers, a Super Bowl winner, and the owner of the most consecutive non-losing seasons to start a coaching career in NFL history.

For a team that has dropped two straight, is 3-7 on the road since last September, and has had a winning record in just five of the past 16 years, the allure of Tomlin is strong. After all, it’s a team that looks, to put it plainly, lost. Their starting QB, Tua Tagovailoa, has a decent completion percentage at 72.7%, but he’s already tossed 3 INTs in just two games, contributing to the team’s tied-for-last place—-4 turnover differential. Meanwhile, McDaniel’s record against winning teams is a dismal 3-15, and he has never beaten the Bills in Buffalo.

The winless Phins of Mike McDaniel

The winless Phins, as McDaniel himself once said, “another day closer to death.”. Last year, former Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott, now a Steeler, said Miami was “soft as (expletive)” and that the majority of the players were “not mentally tough individuals.” It was a stinging phrase that linebacker Jordyn Brooks later echoed. “I thought we were soft,” Brooks said after a Thanksgiving loss to the Green Bay Packers. “I felt like the elements played a part in how we played as a group…” It’s a perception that lingers, especially when you consider Tua has never won a game with the temperature under 45 degrees. The Phins shrink when the weather turns cold.

The team parted ways with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, an old-school coach some players reportedly didn’t like. Safety Jevon Holland even seemed to celebrate Fangio’s departure by posting a video of himself kicking rocks, all while Fangio went on to win an SB with the Eagles.

They also let Dan Campbell and Todd Bowles walk right out the door, and that’s just the tip of the Grier iceberg. The man’s resume is littered with head-scratchers: the head-spinning call to take Tua instead of Herbert (who’s still out there cooking for the Chargers), and a messy cap situation ($30M to former players).

The team has been a revolving door of coaches since Don Shula’s departure. RESULT: a 24-year-and-counting playoff win drought and no conference championship appearance since the days of Dan Marino, who predicted Miami’s win a couple of days ago.

The shine has officially worn off. MM once defeated Bill Belichick in his 1st game and orchestrated a comeback from a 21-point deficit. He won 20 of his first 33 games, but is now just 8-14 since, including a postseason loss. The Phins are a team in turmoil, and the specter of a change looms large.

And that brings us back to the memory of what could have been. The Phins didn’t want Tomlin then, but with a winless start, an era of softness, and a franchise QB who can’t win in the cold, Stephen Ross might want him now.