The Miami Dolphins froze in the Green Bay tundra, falling, 30-17, to the Packers to snap a three-game winning streak.
Miami couldn't sustain offense early and missed a boatload of tackles all game. The Dolphins trailed by 21 points at halftime before a failed fourth-quarter bid. While players and coaches refused to blame the cold for the 20 missed tackles, linebacker Jordyn Brooks said regardless of the temperatures, the team played "soft."
"I thought we were soft," Brooks said, via ESPN. "Simple as that, I thought we were soft today. I don't know if guys was too cold. ... I don't know what it was. I feel like the elements played a part in how we played as a group, and that was the result that we got."
The Dolphins lost their last 12 games, including postseason, in which the temperature at kickoff was 40 degrees or lower. Thursday, it was 27 degrees, with 10 mph winds and a wind chill of 18.
The Dolphins defense struggled mightily tackling in the elements, but coach Mike McDaniel insisted the 20 missed tackles were more of a product of poor technique rather than poor weather. The temperature Thursday night at Lambeau hovered in the mid-20s.
"We're definitely not going to use that as an excuse," defensive lineman Calais Campbell said, per the Associated Press. "I know obviously, with the narratives from years past or whatever, I get it. But today wasn't that bad."
It certainly wasn't as bad as last year's negative-degree Dolphins loss in Kansas City in the postseason. But Green Bay players said they noticed the difference with the southern club.
"Them boys looked cold out there," Packers running back Josh Jacobs said, via NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe.
Added safety Xavier McKinney: "Obviously, they're coming from Miami, it's hot there, and then when you come here and play in that cold weather, you get affected by it. So I think it affected everybody on that team."
Things got off to a bad start for Miami, with a muffed punt leading the game's first touchdown. Miami committed 10 penalties in a sloppy game for the road club. However, McDaniel refused to blame the cold.
"We weren't failing to snap the ball before a delay of game or false-starting because of the cold," he said. "I think the tape will show that, when we watch the tape. But like anything else, eventually you have to overcome it if you're trying to do anything in this league."
The loss dropped the Dolphins to 5-7 on the season after a three-game win streak got them back into the playoff race. The defeat leaves them two games back of Denver for the No. 7 seed in the AFC race. Two teams since 2014 earned a wild-card bid after starting 5-7 or worse (2021 Philadelphia, 2020 Chicago).