Gut punch for playoff hopes
The Vikings sacked Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill nine times and exposed the Dolphins’ defense to rout Miami and further hamper its shot at a playoff berth.
The Dolphins’ season probably ended with Sunday’s 41-17 no-show loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
It sure felt that way in the locker room afterward.
Yes, there were the obligatory long faces when the cameras were on and tape recorders rolling.
Yes, some took it as hard as Kenyan Drake, who basically blamed himself for the pitiful showing by the offense.
“Whupping our ass [in the trenches] — that’s what they did,” Drake said. “Down in and down out. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘How do we want to finish the season?’ ”
The problem is, the sense was the Dolphins know their season is already over, even if the NFL calendar insists two more games remain.
This did not have the feel of a devastated team. There were more than a few jokes and smiles as Dolphins players changed. Defensive end Robert Quinn posed for selfies with Dolphins fans on his way to the bus.
And who could blame them?
They know how to read the standings.
They knew their only real chance was to win out.
Instead, they started the game with the worst quarter of the coach Adam Gase era — outscored 21-0 — and things didn’t get much better from there.
The offensive line was a sieve, with Ryan Tannehill sacked a team-record nine
times.
The Dolphins’ run defense was no better, allowing the Vikings to run all over Miami for 220 yards and three touchdowns on 40 carries.
But we should have seen this coming.
It’s not in this team’s DNA to win on the road.
This was Miami’s sixth consecutive loss away from Hard Rock Stadium, and most of those games haven’t been close. The Dolphins’ average margin of defeat during that stretch is 17.7 points per game.
Of course this is an issue that predates 2018. The Dolphins are 7-17 on the road under Gase, with all but three of those losses by double digits.
And no one in the organization can explain it.
“S---, if I had that answer we would have already had that magic recipe by now,” Quinn said. “No. I don’t know why.
“I wish I could give you a better answer.”
Here’s a guess: Average teams play well at home.
And on the road they have moments like the one that essentially killed the team’s playoff hopes:
When Aldrick Robinson roasted Torry McTyer on a 40-yard touchdown pass that put the Vikings up three scores five minutes into fourth quarter.
“I wasn’t lined up,” McTyer explained.
But let’s not scapegoat here. The defense was bad, yes. The Dolphins surrendered 30 or more points for the sixth time and 400 or more yards for the ninth time.
Yet that should not obscure the fact of how absolutely dreadful the offense was.
In the five Miami drives that followed a 75-yard touchdown run by Kalen Ballage to open the second half, the Dolphins combined for minus-27 yards.
Tannehill (11 of 24 for 108 yards) was not good.
But he also had no time to throw.
The Vikings sacked him an absurd nine times, each one more violent than the last.
We should have seen this coming after the opening drive.
The Dolphins nearly got blown out of the building before the game could even begin.
The Vikings scored touchdowns on their first three possessions — a 13yard pass from Kirk Cousins to Stefon Diggs, a 13-yard run by Dalvin Cook and a 19-yard run by Latavius Murray — and were up 21-0 after the first quarter.
But Miami clawed back in, starting with a pick-6 by Minkah Fitzpatrick midway through the second.
And when Ballage raced 75 yards to the end zone on the first play of the second half, the Dolphins were back within a score.
That’s when the Vikings took over, and the Dolphins’ season basically ended. Minnesota improved to 7-6-1, while Miami fell to 7-7.
The Dolphins’ loss, combined with wins by the Steelers, Ravens, Colts and Titans, left the Dolphins just a 5 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to the website FiveThirtyEight.
In truth, that seems about five times too high.
“The playoff picture is in someone else’s hands right now, but you never know,” tackle Laremy Tunsil said. “Miracles do happen.”
Adam H. Beasley: 305-376-2387, @AdamHBeasley