{"id":422257,"date":"2026-10-08T13:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422257\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:56:08","slug":"miami-dolphins-vs-minnesota-vikings-reactions-and-reflections-from-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422257\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins vs. Minnesota Vikings: Reactions and reflections from Week 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sure, the Miami Dolphins fell to 0-4 on Sunday with a 15-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. But man, they went into one of the league\u2019s toughest environments and held their own. Here are five things I think I think after Week 4.<\/p>\n

The kids are growing up fast.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s young, and then there\u2019s 2026 Dolphins young. Take a look at some of the snap counts from Week 4:<\/p>\n

Kadyn Proctor: 39\/39 snapsChris Bell: 32\/39 snapsKevin Coleman Jr.: 20\/39 snapsWill Kacmarek: 24\/39 snapsJacob Rodriguez: 78\/78 snapsChris Johnson: 78\/78 snapsMichael Taaffe: 78\/78 snaps<\/p>\n

That\u2019s seven rookies of a 13-player class either starting or getting meaningful snaps. (And that\u2019s excluding the team\u2019s arguably No. 1 receiver Caleb Douglas, who\u2019s nursing an ankle injury, as well as fourth-round linebackers Kyle Louis and Trey Moore on the injured list.)<\/p>\n

More importantly, the rookies didn\u2019t look overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

With 18 tackles, Jacob Rodriguez may have played his best game as a Dolphin<\/a>. Michael Taaffe and Chris Johnson were solid on a defense that gave up just 15 points to an undefeated Vikings team. Wins be damned, it\u2019s fun to have a team this young play this well.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins may be building their identity on defense.<\/p>\n

Coming into the season, most of the attention was on the offense. The big investment in quarterback Malik Willis. Replacing big-time receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle with a trio of high-potential rookies. Bolstering the offensive line and tight end room.<\/p>\n

Yet four games in, the defense is starting to define this team. The Dolphins finally got to the quarterback, generating four sacks against Minnesota and consistently pressuring Kyler Murray. Chop Robinson delivered his most disruptive performance of the season<\/a> with a sack and 10 pressures. Zach Sieler looked like the Zach Sieler Dolphins fans have come to expect. Joshua Uche continued his recent surge, and Malik Herring keeps finding ways to make himself noticed. And small sample size, but they\u2019ve only allowed 19.5 points on average over the past two weeks.<\/p>\n

For the first time this season, you can start to see what this defense wants to become: fast and aggressive. And with Kenny Grant plus Louis and Moore coming back, it might only get more disruptive.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re losing the hidden yardage game.<\/p>\n

Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before:<\/p>\n

Opening drive: The Vikings run back the opening kick 47 yards to their 48-yard line.First quarter: After a failed Dolphins\u2019 drive, the Vikings return the ensuing punt 36 yards to the Dolphins\u2019 38.Second quarter: Malik Willis sacked and fumbled at the Dolphins\u2019 39, and the Vikings recover at midfield.<\/p>\n

The Vikings consistently started drives with shorter fields, while Miami\u2019s offense repeatedly had to work its way out of its own territory. In a defensive slugfest where every first down felt significant, those hidden yards became a major factor.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not especially worried about Malik Willis \u2026 but his lack of production is annoying.<\/p>\n

The box score is ugly: Less than 100 passing yards usually tells a pretty straightforward story. That said, Brian Flores\u2019 Vikings defense has made plenty of capable quarterbacks look uncomfortable. The Buccaneers passed only for 186 yards in Week 3, and the Bears for only 163 yards in Week 2. And Baker Mayfield and Caleb Williams have a lot more experience under center than Malik Willis.<\/p>\n

Just the same, the quarterback has not made the same kind of progress that other positions have. The Dolphins are averaging only 163.5 passing yards, the third fewest in the NFL. They\u2019re last in the league in completions and completion percentage, and have thrown only a single touchdown pass. And the team isn\u2019t calling up as many designed runs for Willis \u2013 the Vikings game was the second in which Willis had only two rushing attempts.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no Achane, of course, and building chemistry with rookie receivers will take time, especially when your top wideout is injured. Still, I\u2019ll be eager to see what this team looks like when its offense has hit its stride.<\/p>\n

The schedule may hide this team\u2019s progress for a while.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins entered the season facing one of the league\u2019s hardest schedules, and it\u2019s likely they will be underdogs in every game the rest of the year. That\u2019s fine. But the way this team is growing, especially on defense, and the way it\u2019s competing into the fourth quarter on the road against quality opponents, I think this team will ultimately be better than its record might indicate. There\u2019s still a lot of development that needs to happen, but the amount of growth they\u2019ve already shown is exciting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, the Miami Dolphins fell to 0-4 on Sunday with a 15-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,135179,38736,125,124],"class_list":["post-422257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins-analysis","tag-miami-dolphins-discussion","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}