Huge 'caveat' will decide if Dolphins owner fires Mike McDaniel

At this point, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross doesn’t want to fire head coach Mike McDaniel — but there are two looming variables that could change everything.

Before Miami lost to the Bills, 31-21, on Thursday and dropped to 0-3, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on the Prime Video broadcast that a dip in attendance at home games or players demonstrating that McDaniel has lost the locker room could prompt Ross to flip his stance on the 42-year-old.

“He wants this to work,” Rapoport said. “He likes him. He believes in him. He has invested in him, including in a contract extension last year — still has two years, about $19 million left after this year. And whenever he has had to, whenever possible, he has been patient. My sense is nothing is imminent for the Dolphins on that front.

“However, there’s a caveat. That can change. If fans suddenly stop showing up to the stadium or if players stop playing for him, that can alter the situation.”

Hours later, the Dolphins appeared to make a bit of progress.

They remained within striking distance of the Bills the entire game and even entered the fourth quarter tied — before a costly roughing the kicker penalty on Zach Sieler allowed the Bills to take a lead and Tua Tagovailoa’s late interception allowed them to tack on go ahead by two scores.

But the Miami offense, for most of the night, seemed somewhat in control, with Tagovailoa completing 22-of-34 passes for 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Dolphins went 10-for-15 on third downs, too, and converted a few third-and-longs to extend drives and nearly defeat the Bills in Orchard Park for the first time since 2016.

But the results still showed an 0-3 record by the end of the game.

But the season started with an embarrassing 33-8 loss to the Colts and a crushing Week 2 defeat to the Patriots — when Antonio Gibson returned a kickoff 90 yards in the fourth quarter to give New England the lead for good.

McDaniel has 28-26 record during the regular season — including plenty of struggles against teams above .500 — as Miami’s coach.

After missing the playoffs last season, fans have been frustrated by the slow star. Some even funded an airplane banner flying over Hard Rock Stadium last week that called for McDaniel’s firing.

“I was coaching and calling a football game,” McDaniel told reporters at the time. “I wasn’t spending my time considering what the fans were doing at all. Fans want their team to win, so I figure that if we win football games, I don’t think it’s personal. I think they want to win, and so do I.”

Still, it appears that he’ll get a chance to at least keep his job for now, with the Dolphins hosting the Jets next Monday before traveling to face the Panthers the following week.

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