MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins’ first Christmas Day home game in 16 years on Sunday found hopes for the team as high as they’ve been in about that long — the combination making for a special occasion with a festive feel.
Santa hats bloomed among tailgating fans in the parking lots. Christmas carols played inside the stadium. The weather marked the second-coldest home game in Dolphins history with a kickoff temperature of 46, the coldest since a Christmas Eve game in 1989. Jose Feliciano sang a beautiful rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and delighted with his iconic "Feliz Navidad" at halftime.
It was perfect.
And then it wasn’t.
The Dolphins and their fans needed the holiday gift of a victory after an ill-timed skid of three straight losses.
Looked like they had it, too, until a fourth quarter straight from hell, when three Tua Tagovailoa interceptions derailed the day in a 26-20 loss to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers that left Miami 8-7 with playoff hopes suddenly teetering in the desperation zone.
The Dolphins could not have clinched an NFL playoff berth even with a win, but the fourth straight loss (coming after five wins in a row) erased margin of error for Miami.
The loss means Miami now must win at least one and perhaps both of its last two regular-season games to be assured of reaching the postseason. The Fins play at New England on New Year’s Day and then home vs. the New York Jets on Jan. 7 or 8.
If Miami beats the Pats and the Jets lose next week, the Fins are in. If Miami losses in Foxborough and the Jets win their next game, it will be winner-take-all in the regular season finale.
Luck had kissed the Dolphins prior to Sunday, with earlier losses by the AFC East rival Jets and Patriots, dropping both to 7-8. A tie after the regular season would see the Dolphins win the tiebreaker over the Pats, but not the Jets.
First-year Fins coach Mike McDaniel got the gift he was hoping for: Important, season-defining games in December and January. But Sunday turned it into a be-careful-what-you-wish-for scenario.
“When you are in those months playing meaningful football, it is something unlike any other style of football that exists,” McDaniel said. “The beginning of the season pales in comparison to that environment.”
(And as if there were any doubt, Andy Williams was singing, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as I typed this sentence just before kickoff.)
The Dolphins led most of Sunday but kept having to fight back after being tied.
They led 3-0, then 10-3 on Jaylen Waddle’s 84-yard pass play from Tagovailoa, then 17-10 on Jeff Wilson 1-yard run set up by a 52-yard Tyreek Hill catch, then 20-10.
The first deficit was 23-20 early in the fourth quarter on a 28-yard Pack field goal set up by Tagovailoa’s uncharacteristic interception. Accuracy his calling card, Tua was done in by a bad overthrow that sapped the festive buzz from the full crowd.
Miami was driving for the tie or lead when Tagovailoa was picked off again on another misfire.
Miami had won 11 of its past 12 home games before Sunday, when its defense once again was not good enough.
Trailing 26-20 with the ball at he 2-minute mark, late heroics and a one-point win seemed possible for Miami. Then came Tua’s third interception in an absolute nightmare of of a fourth quarter for the third-year QB.
“ ’We gotta go win this’ ,” Tua said he was thinking in that last drive. “Very unfortunate. Just terrible how everything ended. And that’s on me.”
Tagovailoa blamed the first pick on an overthrow by him, the second on a “communication issue,” and the third as “just not a good ball by me.”
Tagovailoa completed 16 of 25 passes for 310 yards, averaging almost 20 yards per completion, in a day ruined by his three turnovers..
The Dolphins rely too much on explosive plays to Hill and Waddle, and are insufficient in sustaining long drives that rely on the ground game.
Miami also allowed a key 31-yard pass play to Green Bay that likely would have been overturned had the Fins challenged it.
“I would have loved to challenge that had I gotten the information quick enough,” McDaniel admitted.
On top of Miami’s four turnovers including the three INTs, “There were uncharacteristic controllable penalties that were absolutely devastating,” said McDaniel. “Self-inflicted wounds that impacted us in a grave way.”
The Christmas game was a reminder how the NFL wants to own both calendar and turf.
King Sport’s global outreach includes regular-season games in England, Germany and Mexico this season.
Now the NFL wants to own Christmas Day, which, in sports, has long belonged to the NBA. That is changing fast. This is the third straight year for NFL Christmas games — and the first tripleheader, with the Fins and Pack batting leadoff. (Check the head-to-head TV ratings in case you had any doubt which was America’s most popular sport.)
Miami played in the NFL’s second-ever Christmas game and most famous, the “Longest Game” in the 1971 playoffs. Sunday was the league’s 23rd Christmas game, Miami’s fourth and its first since 2006.
It had a chance to send Dolfans home with a Christmas gift.
It was the gift you asked for, and needed, but never got.
And it left the Dolphins, once 8-3, fighting for their playoff life.
“We all believe in each other. We all love each other,” Tagovailoa said of his reeling team. “It’s not a time for us to blink.”
Said McDaniel: “Nobody is going to save us. We have to figure it out ourselves.”
