Put a fork in the Dolphins, they're toast.
Welcome to the Miami Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
The four-game losing streak has essentially ended any hopes of a second-straight playoff berth.
You may be saying, "Dave, you're too early on this. There's a lot of season left."
No there's not.
Two of the final six games of the regular season are against New England.
Chalk up two more losses right there for Miami.
The Dolphins' best case scenario is finishing with an 8-8 record. And even that's unrealistic.
That would require Miami going 4-0 again Kansas City, Denver, and winning twice against Buffalo.
Not gonna happen.
Even if Miami went 3-3 down the stretch, it's highly unlikely the Miami Dolphins would get in with a 7-9 record.
Only four teams in NFL history have made the playoffs with a losing record.
It's a shame, but we knew that the playoffs would be a long shot this season without injured quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
There was some hope that Jay Cutler would lead them there.
It was a one-year, $10M gamble the front office was willing to take.
And although Cutler was terrible in a must-win game against the Bucs this past weekend (before getting pulled for a possible concussion), he hasn't been entirely awful this season.
In fact, the three interceptions Cutler threw in the first half Sunday marked his only multi-interception game of the season.
His 82.7 quarterback rating on the season is at least somewhat respectable. But his opponent-adjusted quarterback rating of 36.4 was only better than Joe Flacco, C.J. Beathard, Brian Hoyer, Trevor Siemian and DeShone Kizer.
I think the fairest criticism of Cutler this year was his inability to get the team into the end zone.
Miami Sports Weekly Rundown: Miami Dolphins Dive Bomb 2017 Season
Miami's 15.7 points per game ranks 31st in the NFL.
But the blame goes beyond the quarterback position.
The rushing attack has hardly been an "attack" at all. Miami is the 29th-ranked rushing offense in the league.
The leading rusher remaining on the roster is Kenyan Drake with a measly 180 rushing yards (Jay Ajayi had 465 yards before getting traded to the Eagles).
And although receiver Jarvis Landry is catching a lot of passes (67), he's on pace for a career-low 8.5 yards per reception.
Tight end Julius Thomas should be in his prime at 29-years-old, but he's not the touchdown-machine he once was in Denver.
He had back-to-back 12 touchdown seasons in 2013 and 2014, but he's only got two TD grabs this year.
And the Miami defense is one of the worst in the league, giving up 25.7 points per game (ranked 26th).
The defensive line -- despite having the second highest paid defensive player in the NFL (Ndamukong Suh) -- gets almost no pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
They've made Josh McCown and Ryan Fitzpatrick look like good quarterbacks.
The Dolphins secondary has come up with a grand total of three interceptions in 10 games. Just three!
They could give the 2008 Detroit Lions a run at that dubious distinction (Lions recorded just four in 16 games that year).
To sum up... Almost everything is going wrong now.
This season is quickly becoming a lost cause.
So... For the final six games of 2017, it's about seeing who's worth keeping around next year.
And it's about time to start thinking who to take in the 2018 NFL Draft (I'm thinking defense, receiver, running back and offensive line).
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 305area.com and can be heard Tuesdays 7-9pm on EK Sports, 96.9 The Game Orlando (and on iHeartRadio in South Florida).
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