The Miami Dolphins have played four games in 2026 and have not scored more than 13 points in any of them. That is not a slow start. That is a structural failure.
Miami fell to 0-4 with a 15-10 loss at Minnesota on Oct. 4. The full ledger: 27-13 at Las Vegas, 35-13 at San Francisco, 24-10 at home against Kansas City, 15-10 at Minnesota. Forty-six points in four games. An even 11.5 per game, dead last in the NFL.
Let Us Get the Stat Right
You will see this framed as the first time in 22 years a team has done this. That framing is wrong, and it is wrong in a way that undersells how specific the problem is.
Miami is the third team since 2004 to score 13 or fewer in each of its first four games. The other two were also the Dolphins, in 2004 and in 2019. The 2019 version happened seven years ago. This is not a once-in-a-generation statistical oddity. This is a thing that keeps happening to one franchise.
The Roster Was Gutted on Purpose
First-year head coach Jeff Hafley replaced Mike McDaniel. Tua Tagovailoa was released and signed with Atlanta, making 2026 the first Dolphins season without him since 2019. Malik Willis was named the starter on Sept. 8 after signing a reported three-year, $67.5 million deal in free agency.
Willis has one touchdown pass and two interceptions on the season. Against Minnesota he went 9-of-17 for 85 yards with a lost fumble and a 73.0 passer rating, and his one touchdown throw was wiped out by an illegal-touching penalty.
Eighty-five passing yards. In 2026. With a $67.5 million quarterback.
The Defense Deserves Better
Here is what makes this so frustrating for anyone watching: Miami’s defense held the Vikings without a touchdown and generated four sacks, and still lost. A unit that keeps an NFL offense out of the end zone is a unit good enough to win games. It is being asked to win them 10-9 every week.
That is not sustainable, and it is how good defenses get old fast.
Hafley Is Saying the Right Things
“This is the time to find out … who are the real guys?” Hafley told the AP. Willis offered the standard version: “We don’t have a win right now, but that’s not our reality.”
Cincinnati comes to town in Week 5, and the Bengals are 2-2 and dealing with their own receiver injuries. If Miami cannot clear 14 points against that defense, the conversation shifts from growing pains to whether the quarterback decision was defensible in the first place.
My read: the Dolphins made a full teardown and told their fan base it was a retool. Those are different projects with different timelines, and only one of them involves watching your offense score ten points a week in October.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.