Omar Kelly: Dolphins need to avoid being historically bad, going winless in 2026

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Oct 10, 2026

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Seven years ago two lost franchises faced off inside Hard Rock Stadium for what some labeled the Toilet Bowl.

The Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals, who happen play each other on Sunday at 1 p.m. inside Hard Rock Stadium, faced off in Week 16 of the NFL’s 2019 season as two of the worst franchises in the NFL that season.

Brian Flores and Zac Taylor were each in their first seasons as head coaches, leading rebuilding efforts similar to the one the Dolphins embarked on this offseason.

Despite allowing Cincinnati to rally from a 35-12 fourth-quarter deficit, that Flores-led Dolphins pulled out a 38-35 overtime win with a 37-yard field goal.

The Dolphins’ fourth win of that season preserved Cincinnati’s position as the owner of the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

Cincinnati had officially out-tanked Miami, putting the Bengals in position to select quarterback Joe Burrow, a three-time Pro Bowler, and two-time NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

But did that one quarterback, who owns a 45-35-1 record as starter heading into Sunday’s game, fix all of Cincinnati’s problems?

Did Burrow transform the Bengals franchise?

He hasn’t, and neither has any player another NFL team tanked for.

Tanking has never led a franchise to a Super Bowl championship. And even though Burrow’s Bengals were the closest to winning it all in 2022, they didn’t, which makes me conclude nothing, and nobody is worth being historically bad for.

No team in NFL history has gone 0-17, and it better not be the 2026 Dolphins who are the first to do so.

I don’t care how talented Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith, a South Florida native who is viewed as the top draft prospect, is.

Or how promising a quarterback Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, Miami’s Darian Mensah, Notre Dame’s C.J. Carr or Texas’ Arch Manning might be.

No prospect is worth bookmarking the Dolphins’ Perfect Season (1972) with the Imperfect Season, becoming the first NFL team to produce an 0-17 record.

I have learned my lesson from encouraging the Dolphins to tank in 2019. Tanking is a loser’s mentality, and feeds into a losing culture.

Teaching teams how to win, planting seeds of a healthy culture and seeing the fruits of that laborious efforts, is far more important than picking at the top of any draft.

I covered the 2007 Dolphins, and felt the helplessness that overwhelmed that poorly coached, injury-decimated team.

The relief those players and coaches felt when Greg Camarillo scored the game-winning touchdown over the Baltimore Ravens in a 22-16 overtime game filled the stadium with tears.

A dejected team desperate to not make history for ineptness celebrated that one win like they had just won a championship because it prevented them from becoming infamous for failure.

In fairness to that 2007 squad, they had talent.

That defense had Jason Taylor, Joey Porter, Zach Thomas, Channing Crowder, Keith Traylor, Vonnie Holliday, Yeremiah Bell, Will Allen and Renaldo Hill on it to start the season, but injuries trimmed the fat.

And once quarterback Trent Green sustained a concussion in Week 5 the offense became anemic with Cleo Lemon and John Beck at the helm.

If I’m being honest, the 2026 Dolphins don’t measure up to that one win Dolphins squad talent wise, before the injuries set in. But they do have far more talent than the 2019 squad did.

That five-win team was propped up like a kickstand by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, whose veteran presence stabilized the offense, and the grizzled veteran delivered clutch performances in critical fourth-quarter (and one overtime) moments.

That Flores-led team, which finished that season with Fitzpatrick’s 243 yards making him the leading rusher for the season, won three of the season’s final five games, which includes that overtime victory over the Bengals.

Despite losing Pro Bowler De’Von Achane for the season, and playing a third game without leading receiver Caleb Douglas on Sunday, this 2026 Dolphins have better starting talent than that 2019 squad.

The biggest area of concern about this year’s team is that injuries could water down the squad’s talent base, which has lackluster depth.

That’s why it’s critical that Miami delivers the season’s first win sooner than later.

These next five games are the Dolphins’ most winnable stretch of the season.

Three of the five games are at home, and the two road games — the New York Jets (Oct. 25) and Indianapolis Colts (Nov. 15) — are against teams with comparable talent, if we don’t factor in injuries.

If the Dolphins were going to produce a win this season, avoiding the threat of being 0-17, this is the stretch to do it in, especially since it will reinforce everything first-year coach Jeff Hafley is preaching and teaching.

Players need results to encourage the buy-in.

That’s how Cam Cameron lost his veteran-laden 2007 team, which eventually realized he and his staff were part of the problem they had on Sundays.

The last thing this young and impressionable Dolphins squad needs is to have doubts that the progress being made, the foundation being laid, is faulty, and fragile.