As much as I want to go on to ignoring this organization after another big fat failure, I can't as long as its so fresh and the NFL playoffs continue on and we watch teams like the Chiefs, Seahawks (well it started last year for Seattle, but they proved they are for real in 2013) and Panthers take the next step after some poor seasons. So I guess I can wallow in some Dolphin misery for a few more days. Which recent terrible season left you most embarrassed to be a fan and wear anything with a dolphin logo on it in public? 1988: Going 6-10 and finishing in last place with Dan Marino as QB must have been rough. Did losing the 1985 AFC Championship to the Patriots hurt that bad? After that they finished the 1980s with 8 wins, 8 wins, 6 wins, 8 wins. 1993: 9-2 record after the Leon Lett game. Lose every remaining game and miss the playoffs. However, Marino went out in week 5 (regardless they still should've made the playoffs after a 9-2 start...how do you not squeak out 1 more win?). You knew Marino was going to be back in 1994 and things would be fine again, and sure enough he was back and the team nearly made it to the AFC Championship game after their 1 point loss in San Diego. So I would scratch this off the list, losing your elite franchise QB is at least a good excuse for a season spiraling down the toilet. 1996: A 3-0 start turns to dust much like every hot Dolphins start in the past 15 years en route to an 8-8 finish. However, again with Marino at QB you had to figure they would be back in the playoffs fairly quickly and they were the next season. The current situation makes this look like a pleasureable season. 2002: A hot 5-1 start took a hit when Fiedler got hurt, but the team bounced back to tie the Raiders in week 15 for the best record in the AFC after going out to Oakland to get a big win, needing just one more to win the AFC East. They follow it up by losing to 3-win Minnesota (with Cris Carter dropping a potential game winning TD for Miami). They then blow a 10 (?) point lead with the clock ticking down in New England. They lose the AFC East and miss the playoffs on a tiebreaker, with a top 2 run game and top 3 defense and 7 pro bowlers... 2004: A disaster 4 win season that is better left to history. It became clear that Wannstedt and Co. should've been fired after 2002, and 2004 is the result of keeping him too long. 2006: Pick Culpepper over Brees, watch Brees take the Saints to the NFC Championship Game while Miami finishes with 6 wins and with Joey Harrington as QB. Saban bails after lying about going to Alabama. 2007: 1-15. But hey, you knew that was rock bottom and could only go upwards in 2008 (which it did, as brief as it was). 2010: Much like in 2009, the Dolphins were 7-6 and had a shot. People figured the team would struggle in '09. In 2010 we figure they might have a chance. They lose to the last place Bills and Lions at home to kill any chance they would have to make the playoffs. 2011: Harbaugh-gate made the Dolphins a punchline. An 0-7 start furthered that. However, going 0-7 in 2011 made you wonder, "Wow we might get Andrew Luck!" It was a great year to suck. The Colts did it better though and the Dolphins finish with 6 meaningless wins, the Colts get Luck and haven't missed the playoffs since. 2013: Well it's all been said ad nauseum here. This is basically a mirror image of the 2002 season. Riding high following a big win over the Pats, needing just one more win to make the playoffs. Lose both in terrible fashion, not even putting up a fight. I'm really thinking 2013 is possibly most embarrassing to me, especially choking against two division rivals who were perceived as being worse off. 2007 was bad, but once it was over you knew it would at least be a little better in 2008. I have no idea what to expect in 2014...sure it can get better and they can make improvements and make the playoffs. But it can certainly get worse as we know all too well as Dolphins fans.
Judging by my reaction after the Jets loss, this, for me was the least embarrassing. Simply because I expect disaster after 20 years of disaster and I'm ambivalent about the team. 30 minutes after the game I was OK. It took me 30 days to get over the 2002 fiasco.
I was pissed after watching that 2002 choke against the Patriots, but I was 14 and I don't think I cared quite as much. I also didn't expect I would see them in the playoffs just one time since then...I always figured "eh, whatever, we'll have our time soon enough." Boy was I wrong, it's taking forever. I guess the level of talent in 2002 was also much bigger, obviously, so its a bit more surprising to this day that they blew it. I'm kind of getting over this one a bit, maybe I am used to it all now, though it does suck more than any of the poor years since 2002. Watching other teams in the playoffs is going to suck extra hard this year with the Dolphins being so close yet again and throwing it all away. A year like '07 you just stop caring halfway through.
This has been the most disappointing year in my 40+ years of being a Dolphins Fan. I REALLY thought they were going to turn the corner this year, especially after the Pitt/NE wins. The way they lost the last two games just SCREAMS coaching to me. While I've never been a Sherman fan, I've been a Philbin supporter, and I think his relationship with Sherman really reached new levels of WTF? If he backs Sherman behind closed doors as much as he does publicly, I don't even want him back. They have convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will never succeed with current management/coaching in place. 2nd most disappointing, allowing the Patriots to lay an egg against the 1985 Bears. 3rd most...losing to Montana and the Niners in the SB. 4th and last most...2008...yes...2008. We were a fluke team and I knew it. While some of the plays were great and exciting, I knew we wouldn't keep up that record, and we only got there because Brady went down anyway.
The playoff loss to SD in '94 haunts me. A high snap on Pete S's FG attempt threw off timing and he missed.
I would put that game under most heart breaking...but not under embarrassing. That was a very talented team and a tough tough one to swallow.
2007 was alot worse. 2013 is just the latest of a long list of bad seasons so it hurts more now but won't be remembered as bad as alot of others
Most embarrassing would be 2006 with Saban leaving to go to Alabama. I was so excited when we got him. Most heartbreaking, way back, Was that OT loss to The Chargers in the heat in Miami. Greatest game I ever saw...cried for weeks. Most heartbreaking, recent, was 2002 at NE...The maddest I ever was as a Dolphin Fan.
heartbreaking? maybe. 2002 was probably the most heartbreaking, 2007 the most embarrassing. this season was just one gigantic missed opportunity.
Brother...I feel your pain. What sticks in my head about that game besides that missed FG was the safety against Parmalee and most importantly..right before the FG..on 3rd down...Dan just missed hitting Mike Williams that would have gone for a TD and the game would have been over. That high snap still haunts me
Don't forget, they called a TD on that run by San Diego (forgot the rb name) when he stepped out at the 2 or 3 yard line. Also that dam safety came back to bite us in rump...
2007 Cam Cameron Ted Ginn we drafted "the entire Ginn family" The first time I got to see the Dolphins live and in person 1-15 including that horrendous Pittsburgh game Yep. Not close.
sad but true. It actually took me a few hours to get past this past Sunday, but it used to take a month - like you said.
Say what you will about George Wilson...he had 15 times the wins that Cam Cameron did. Hell, we've had two interim coaches who have won two and three times as many games as Cameron did.
I gave everything I had, I just didn't have legs under me. I still got the scars on my knees to prove it. It was bad year, when your only between 2 and 3 but No excuses...
I have lived through some tough seasons. This one that we just concluded was probably one of the worst I have endured as a fan. We went from high to low to lower to high to higher to low to lowest. I've seen us collapse in the past but this was the definition of a rollercoaster ride this year and it would have been so much easier to tolerate had it ended in the playoffs. PS. 1995 was a year that the O.P did not list and that my friends was the worst year I have ever spent being a Miami Dolphin fan. We spent a ton of money that spring on many big time free agents (Gary Clark, Eric Green, Gene Atkins to name a few). We drafted a promising running back in Terry Kirby, we had guys like Tim Bowens and OJ McDuffie really starting to come into their own. The defense had studs like Troy Vincent, Louis Oliver, and Bryan Cox while The offensive line was looking really good...Everything looked like we were going to just steamroll our way to the super bowl. We open the season by thrashing the Jets 52-14 and then proceed to win our next three games as well. It looked as though no team would even touch us that year and then all of a sudden....Harbaugh and the Colts beat us in overtime, the Saints who were horrible beat us, the Jets beat us by 1, we get trounced by San Francisco and New England, and then Buffalo beats us in another tight game (would of gave us the division). We finish 9-7 on the year, but the worst part about all of that is the beating we take from Buffalo in their stadium 37-22 was the final score. 1995 was the worst season for me personally to be a fan of this team.
I agree with this. I'd say 2002, 2007 and even 2010 were worse than this. Don't forget in 2010 we were 6-2 on the road and 1-7 at home. THAT is embarrassing. We also ended that season by losing December home games to the Browns, Bills and Lions when we were in playoff contention. This season was a rollercoaster all season long. 3-0 to 3-4 to the Incognito/Martin embarrassment to 8-6 to 8-8. We won some impressive games and lost some game we had no business losing. Disappointing for sure, but not as bad as the seasons I listed IMO.
2006/2007 probably the worst two years in franchise history. 2007 1-15 and 2006 they handed Brees over to New Orleans who has been a playoff/super bowl contender every year since after being one of the NFL's worst franchises before then. Now Dolphins fans must sit and watch as Miami continues to struggle year in and year out.
Big difference between "embarrassing" and "painful". The 1985 AFC championship game is most painful. I wept. It started my life long hatred for the New England Patriots. When they were a 1-15 team I wanted them lose 100-0. I hate them, it started that day. The Stoyanovich miss was painful, it rivals 1985 for me. Embarrassing? 2002 is the top one for me. Wannstedt's stench is still with this franchise. He should have been fired on the plane ride home. 1995 doesn't get nearly enough love. We signed everyone under the Sun in a final grasp by Don Shula to get a ring. He pushed us into cap hell for the following year, we looked great. We were 6-3 and rolling but the team was an Island of misfit toys. We managed to eek into the playoffs....and promptly got down 27-0 in Buffalo...and gave up 341 yards rushing. Three hundred and forty one. 2013 ranks closely with the previous two and it feels a lot like 2002 but 1995 sandwiches it's way in there because of 341.
2007 was obviously the most embarrassing for obvious reasons. When you almost go 0 for the season, it sucks. But the most frustrating season to me was '93, when we were 9-2, and then lost the last five (the last of which I watched in person) to miss the playoffs. I mean, who does that!?!
Not even close. Most fans I've talked to...think we have a legit franchise QB...and a pretty good team. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
Agree and its not close. There's been plenty of soul crushers...94 and 92 were the worst. I actually expected Miami to blow it this year. Nothing they did made me think otherwise.
Yep, that is my take, from Clabo being dreadful early to Wheeler just not being good,to the missed Wallace/THill deep passes to Incognito/Martin it has been one huge "WTH?!?!" 07, hands down..wow
Its never embarrassing to be a Dolphins fan. Frustrating, annoying, anger inducing but never embarrassing
Are you guys kidding me? 2013 isn't even close to being the worst. A wild ride maybe...but 2007 was just utterly painful...