Getting themselves mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on Monday night felt like an inevitability for the Dolphins after an array of in-season firings and strife between players.
Needless to say, their eulogy on 2015 will not be a fond one.
"Not a good team," Michael Thomas said via The Palm Beach Post. "We didn't put it together."
Added Mike Pouncey: "I hate to be in that situation again but it seems like the same thing every year. ... When you have nothing else to play for, you have three games left and you're not making the playoffs ... we'll see what kind of guys really like football. And we'll find the ones that don't and we'll get them out of here."
While something tells us vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum already has a pretty good idea, it will be interesting to see if this team finishes the crash-and-burn scenario all the way.
It's crazy to think that just a few months ago, after the signing of Ndamukong Suh and the acquisition of receivers like Kenny Stills and tight end Jordan Cameron, that we were talking about a Super Bowl. A study done by the fine folks at Harvard pegged them to win the division!
Joe Philbin himself wasn't shy about talking championships.
"I came here to win championships. I didn't come here to be average and be 8-8," Philbin told ESPN.com on the eve of training camp. "Steve Ross doesn't own the team to be average. Our fans don't want to be average. Our players don't want to be average. So that's what we're here for. That's why we invest and put the effort, the time into what we do."
Outside of the Jaguars and Raiders, who spent lavishly but wisely in free agency this season, the Dolphins could serve as the ultimate cautionary tale for fan bases that live and die by the acquisition of talent that isn't homegrown. Sometimes it works out, but sometimes you slog off the field after losing to the scattershot Giants, ready to tell anyone who will listen that this was not a good football team.
