Miami Dolphins Show up Twice on List of Worst NFL Coaching Hires

The once-great Miami Dolphins have had a rough go of it the last few 25 years. Since beating the Indianapolis Colts in the 2000 Wild Card game, they haven’t won a single playoff game. You won’t need a Texas Instruments TI-85 graphing calculator to do the math and realize that it’s been an incredibly long time.

Of course, it can be so easy to point the finger at the head coach, but they aren’t the ones out there actually, you know, playing football. Sure, they are the man in charge of the show, but would Vince Lombardi have been a legend if he had post-Dan Marino Dolphins’ quarterbacks to work with?

Since Marino, the Dolphins have started: Jay Fiedler, Damon Huard, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, John Beck (remember him?), Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen, Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill, Jay Cutler, Brock Osweiler, Ryan Fitzpatrick (who didn’t he play for?), Josh Rosen (ouch), Tua Tagovailoa and a bunch of other guys that started because Tua was hurt.

That’s an insane amount of quarterbacks. While it points directly to instability, it also says that none of them were very good or else they would have stayed. And that dramatically affects the head coaching situation. Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports compiled a list of the worst 25 NFL head coaching hires of this century, and two Dolphins’ coaches made the list…for good reason.

No. 3: Cam Cameron

Record: 1-15

The year was 2007 and the Dolphins were an unmitigated disgrace. If not for a miracle overtime finish against the Baltimore Ravens, the Dolphins would have made the record books. Not only would they have been the first team to go winless in a season since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 1976 expansion season, they would have held the mantle (probably permanently) for being the only team in NFL history to have an undefeated season (1972) as well as a “defeated” season.

“This is what you get when Nick Saban abruptly resigns from atop the staff,” Benjamin writes. “Cameron oversaw some electric offenses with the San Diego Chargers, but his first and last head coaching opportunity at the NFL level brought Miami its worst finish in four decades. Shuffling between an aging Trent Green and backups Cleo Lemon and John Beck under center, Cameron’s one-year stop was made more unsettling by the fact Miami passed over future Steelers icon Mike Tomlin to hire him.”

That does indeed sting. As of now, Tomlin is still employed by the team that hired him back then. Here are the highlights of Cameron’s lone “good day” in 2007 courtesy of Greg Camarillo:

No. 24: Nick Saban

Record: 15-17

Have the Dolphins ever recovered from the Nick Saban experiment? Recovery would imply that they were on some sort of a roll before he got to Miami, which they certainly weren’t. It’s always a gamble when an NFL team brings in a big-time NCAA coach because there are so many different variables. Signing Saban in 2005 was a calculated risk, but it didn’t pan out.

“It’s not the record but the bigger-picture ripple effects that made Saban’s short-lived South Florida reign so unfortunate,” Benjamin writes. “He was a hotshot upon entry, an LSU national champion poised to bring new life to a storied franchise. Then he infamously couldn’t secure Drew Brees, a free-agent quarterback consideration, and left for the Alabama job weeks after proclaiming he would do no such thing. Everyone’s allowed to change their mind, but Saban’s abrupt exit left Miami scrambling, and the Dolphins remain something of a mess to this day.”

Who remembers the Drew Brees debacle? Missing out on Brees is most certainly not all on Saban as the team failed to clear him medically after a shoulder injury at the end of the 2005 season. He went on to sign with the New Orleans Saints if you don’t remember and the Dolphins instead sent a second-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for Daunte Culpepper. Whoops. No wonder Saban didn’t want to stay.