Miami Dolphins now have the longest playoff win drought in pro sports

A season that started with so much promise collapsed into another disappointing early exit for the Miami Dolphins. In September, they scored 70 points against the Denver Broncos and set NFL records. Over their final three games, the Dolphins scored 40 points total, lost the de facto game to earn the No. 1 seed playoff to the Baltimore Ravens, lost the AFC East title to the Buffalo Bills, and lost the Wild Card game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

As if that wasn’t enough, following the Detroit Lions’ stirring 24-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams, the Dolphins now have the double dishonor of the NFL’s longest active playoff losing streak and the longest gap without a postseason W. Yes, even the New York Jets, who have the longest playoff drought in the NFL (2010), have six playoff wins since Miami’s most recent one.

You have to go back to Wild Card weekend, Dec. 30, 2000. Bill Clinton was still the President of the United States, Destiny’s Child had the number one song on the Billboard charts, and current Dolphins running back Devon Achane was not born.

Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts led 14-0 at halftime in Miami, but the Dolphins rallied late and scored a tying touchdown on a Jay Fiedler pass to Jed Weaver with :34 left in regulation.

In overtime, Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a game-winning 49-yard field goal. The Colts declined an offside penalty that would’ve given them 3rd and 7 at Miami’s 37 instead of 4th and 1 at Miami’s 31. Miami drove down the field and walked it off with a 17-yard Lamar Smith touchdown, capping off a 209-yard rushing performance. The Dolphins’ only lead was the 23-17 final score.

Last Saturday’s beatdown in frigid Kansas City extended Miami’s postseason losing run to six. The common theme is how non-competitive nearly all of their losses have been.

(Incidentally, those Raiders have the second-longest active playoff winless run at 21 years.)

The Dolphins have scored a grand total of six (SIX!) touchdowns, half of them against the Bills last season. Miami briefly led Buffalo in the 3rd quarter with third-stringer Skylar Thompson filling in for the injured Tua Tagovailoa and Teddy Bridgewater, but it was a short-lived advantage. The late game-winning drive attempt never crossed into Buffalo territory.

Miami’s offense failed to reach 300 total yards against everyone except the Steelers, and even that didn’t occur until the final snap of garbage time. Out of a possible 360 minutes of game time, Miami has held the lead for less than 30 minutes.

The Lions just ended their losing streak at nine games, which spanned a whopping 32 years. Three seasons ago, the Cincinnati Bengals ended an eight-game, 31-year postseason drought on their way to winning the AFC Championship. The Kansas City Chiefs also had an eight-game losing run before defeating the Houston Texans in the 2015 Wild Card.

If Miami loses its next postseason game, it’ll have the fourth-longest playoff losing streak in league history.

The encouraging sign for Dolphins fans is the fact that Miami reached the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 2000 and 2001 under Dave Wannstedt, the last head coach to guide Miami to a playoff win.

While Mike McDaniel is off to a promising start as the Dolphins head coach, Miami won’t be taken seriously as playoff contenders until it significantly improves its regular season record against playoff-caliber opposition.

The Cincinnati Reds hold the distinction of the longest amount of time since advancing in the playoffs. They haven’t won a playoff series since the 1990 NLCS. In 2012, they won two games of their best-of-five divisional series.