PITTSBURGH — Playoff hopes were on the line Monday night when the Dolphins faced the Pittsburgh Steelers. A Dolphins loss, and their playoff hopes were dashed for the second consecutive season.
The Dolphins’ playoff hopes are over after Monday’s 28-15 loss at Pittsburgh ended their winning streak at four games and dropped their season record to 6-8.
The Steelers entered Monday’s game riding an amazing 22-game Monday night winning streak — they hadn’t lost a Monday night home game since 1991.
There was another cool thing on the line Monday. The Dolphins, who started the season 2-7, were trying to become the fifth team in NFL history to reach .500 after starting 2-7, joining the 2021 Dolphins, among others.
And, of course, there were personal and business stakes in this one considering the Dolphins and Steelers engaged in a blockbuster offseason trade.
Here’s what we learned Monday night:
Dolphins in ‘cold weather’
When I talk about the Dolphins in “cold weather” the line of delineation is 45 degrees. It was 17 degrees at kickoff Monday but cold weather didn’t cause this loss. For what it’s worth, in the coach Mike McDaniel era, the Dolphins are now 1-6 in “cold weather” games.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is now 1-4 in suchgames under McDaniel because he didn’t play in the Buffalo playoff game or last season’s finale at the New York Jets.
Under McDaniel, the Dolphins lost to Pittsburgh in cold weather (28-9), defeated the Jets in cold weather earlier this season (34-10), lost to the Jets in last season’s finale (32-20), lost to Green Bay on Thanksgiving 2024 (30-17), lost to Kansas City in the 2023 playoffs (26-7), lost to Buffalo in the 2022 playoffs (34-31), and lost to Buffalo in the 2022 regular season (32-29). — Chris Perkins
McDaniel road record, and December road record
McDaniel is now 12-21 (.364) on the road, and 12-22 (.353) including playoffs on the road. Both are poor marks. Typically, teams want to go at least .500 on the road.
McDaniel is now 3-6 (.333) on the road in December. He was 0-3 in 2022, losing at San Francisco, the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo; he was 1-1 in 2023, winning at Washington and losing at Baltimore; he was 1-1 in 2024, losing at Houston and winning at Cleveland; he’s 1-1 this season winning at the New York Jets and losing at Pittsburgh.
McDaniel is 34-32 (.523) overall, 34-33 (.508) including playoffs.
Tua record in “cold weather” under McDaniel
Tagovailoa is now 1-4 in cold weather games in the McDaniel era. Tagovailoa entered Monday’s game with a 1-3 record in these games in the McDaniel era. He was 87 of 136 for 891 yards, six touchdowns and one interception and a 94.3 passer rating.
In his cold weather games under McDaniel, Tagovailoa lost to Pittsburgh on Monday, defeated the Jets earlier this season and lost to Kansas City in the 2023 playoffs, lost to Green Bay on Thanksgiving last season and lost to Buffalo in the 2022 regular season.
Dolphins score first in seventh consecutive game
The Dolphins scored first Monday, taking a 3-0 lead on a 54-yard field goal by kicker Riley Patterson in the second quarter, and have now scored first in their past seven games. This was the first time in the stretch the Dolphins didn’t score in the first quarter. It should be noted this was yet another occasion in which the Dolphins won the pregame coin toss and opted to receive the ball instead of deferring until the third quarter.
De’Von Achane held in check
Running back De’Von Achane ended with 61 yards rushing on 12 carries, his worst showing since 10 carries for 16 yards in a 27-24 loss against Carolina on Oct. 5. Achane had six receptions for 68 yards Monday, marking the third time this season he’s had more receiving yards than rushing yards. He had seven receptions for 30 yards against Carolina, and in a 33-27 loss against New England on Sept. 14, Achane had 10 receptions for 92 yards and 11 carries for 30 yards.
Tua’s INTs reach career worst
Tagovailoa (22 of 28, 254 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) threw his career-worst 15th interception Monday, and it came in his 14th game. In 2023, Tagovailoa threw 14 interceptions in 17 games.
Tagovailoa’s interception on Monday came in the first quarter when he was targeting wide receiver Jaylen Waddle on a deep route. Cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., who attended St. Thomas Aquinas High, drifted over to record the interception on a pass that was slightly underthrown.
Tagovailoa had a potential interception that was dropped by outside linebacker Alex Highsmith.
Scoring defense takes a hit
The Dolphins defense entered Monday’s game having allowed just 10 touchdowns in the past six games. But Pittsburgh solved that mystery by scoring four unanswered touchdowns from the second to fourth quarters.
The Dolphins ranked 15th in scoring defense (22.8 points allowed per game) before Monday’s game and had only allowed one team in the past six games to score more than 17 points (Baltimore, which scored 28 points).
Sieler coming alive
Defensive tackle Zach Sieler, who sacked Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the second quarter, now has 4.5 sacks on the season, all of them coming in the past five games. Sieler is coming off back-to-back 10-sack seasons and signed a three-year, $64 million extension during the offseason. Sieler was shaken up briefly early in the fourth quarter when he was slammed to the ground on an extra point attempt but he returned to the game.
Special teams woes
Kicker Riley Patterson had a short kickoff, giving Pittsburgh the ball at the 40-yard line right after he made a 54-yard field goal. Special teams also had a delay of game on a punt as their woes continue to mount. So far this season special teams have run into the punter, roughed the punter, allowed kickoff and punt return touchdowns, failed to recover an onside kick and allowed a fake punt.
The Steelers scored a go-ahead touchdown to take a 7-3 lead after getting the short-field on the kickoff. They then scored another touchdown on their first possession of the second half and never looked back.
Dolphins Deep Dive: Perkins, Furones break down Miami’s loss to Steelers | VIDEO
Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith and Minkah Fitzpatrick
Pittsburgh free safety Jalen Ramsey (he’s no longer a cornerback) had a third-down sack on Tagovailoa in the third quarter, making it the first play among the principals in the June 30 blockbuster trade between these teams. The deal’s parts were Miami sending Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh in exchange for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Ramsey ended the game with six tackles, Smith ended with two receptions for 12 yards and one carry for 14 yards and a touchdown, and Fitzpatrick ended with six tackles.
Sadly, it is now guaranteed . . .
That the Dolphins will pass the 25-year anniversary of their most recent playoff win (Dec. 30, 2000). And, who knows how long this embarrassing run will extend. — Steve Svekis
Another personal record for Achane
Again, De’Von Achane was the Dolphins’ lone bright spot among the skilled positions, with his 127 total yards. He also registered five first downs, giving him 72 in 2025 and setting a career high, which had been 67 last year.
Again . . . what is McDaniel doing?
In what seems like a weekly installment, what on earth was Mike McDaniel’s game-management thought in the fourth quarter? The Dolphins casually went through their huddles and line calls in a fourth quarter with their playoff lives on the line, when it should have been 15 minutes of nu-huddle. The apathy drew deserved sharp criticism from Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman during the ESPN broadcast. Then, in the waning seconds, Tua Tagovailos took a delay of game penalty by calling a timeout he didn’t have.
Brooks sets a personal record, with a lot of football left
In the first quarter, Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks hauled down Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell for a loss of a yard and then, two snaps later, sacked Aaron Rodgers for a minus-9 yards. With that, Brooks sat at 12 tackles for loss in this season’s 14 games. It breaks a personal best he established last year. Additionally in the first half, Brooks also had two tackles for no gain. So, in 31 career games in Miami, Brooks has 23 TFLs. At his previous stop in Seattle, in 64 games, Brooks that same number of TFLs in 23.
Dolphins’ defensive backs were on a run-stop heater
In the first half, the Miami defense kept the Dolphins in the game. Spearheading that effort were the defensive backs, five of whom had at least one tackle each for a 1 yard gain or less. Ashtyn Davis made two such tackles, with Ifeatu Melifonwu, Jack Jones, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Rasul Douglas getting one each. The performance suffered, relatively, in the second half, but the first-half output could have been a difference-maker if the offense had shown up. Fitzpatrick also had a tackle for minus-2, Douglas a stop for no gain and Melifonwu a tackle for a 1-yard gain in the second half.
Some plaudits for Brewer
Former Philadelphia Eagles star center Jason Kelce showered credit upon Dolphins center Aaron Brewer in the pregame, though he also mentioned that Brewer has had to overcome a lot to become an NFL stalwart. Kelce called Brewer “the shortest man in the NFL.” Not sure if he was referencing only centers, or being hyperbolic. But, the meat of his commentary was about how well Brewer has played throughout the season. Kelce said: “He’s been consistent all year. … If you are going to be undersized, you gotta dominate in the second level” while showing clips of Brewer doing that.
The bizarre ‘Monday Night Football’ scheduling history between the Dolphins and Steelers
“Monday Night Football” began in 1970, and the Dolphins and Steelers had their first such matchup in the Orange Bowl in 1974. Then came three matchups at Hard Rock Stadium, the most recent one in 1996. The first Monday night Dolphins game in Pittsburgh came in 2007 in the infamous Mud Bowl game the Steelers won 3-0. In that game, a punt plugged into the grass without bouncing. And, since then, the Dolphins haven’t played that prime-time game to end an NFL week in South Florida. So, that means there were no Dolphins-Steelers games in Pennsylvania in the first 37 years of the MNF series, and haven’t been any in Miami Gardens in the past 29 seasons entering 2027. Next year, the Dolphins won’t play the Steelers.
On deck: Cincinnati Bengals, Hard Rock Stadium, Sunday, 1 p.m.
Joe Burrow makes his first visit to South Florida with the Bengals in free fall at 4-10. The previous matchup between the Bengals and Dolphins came in 2022 in Cincinnati, when Tua Tagovailoa sustained his first official concussion.