The Miami Dolphins lost their first preseason game this year, succumbing to the Chicago Bears by a score of 20-13.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was outplayed by Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields. However, Tagovailoa made it clear after the game that he would rather not dwell on what went wrong and instead focus on how the team can bounce back.
“I think the better question for that is what didn’t I do wrong?” he said to begin his postgame press conference. “I thought I did alright. There are a lot of things we need to clean up offensively — with our communication, more so our execution with our plays that we were given.
“But that first time coming out with a real game-like situation and environment, I thought it was real good. Obviously, there’s a lot of things we need to clean up, but that’s what we got film for. When we get on the plane we’ll look at those plays that didn’t go the way we wanted and we’ll get those fixed.”
This game was Tagovailoa’s first-ever NFL preseason game. Last year, the matches were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He started for Miami and went 8-of-11 on his throws for 99 yards and one interception. He finished the contest with a dismal 62.3 quarterback rating.
Still, it was a good opportunity for the 23-year-old to build chemistry with the squad’s receivers and learn to read opposing defenses quickly.
The Dolphins will play two more preseason games before they begin the 2021 NFL season against the New England Patriots on Sept. 12.
