Around one month ago, following their loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Miami Dolphins’ season looked lost, and it seemed as if they would end up in the running for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. They had a record of just 1-6 on the season, but they’ve turned their campaign around as of late.
A Miami team that looked dead in the water is all of a sudden showing signs of life on both sides of the ball and picking up wins. The Dolphins are winners of three of their last four contests and came out on top in their most game against the Washington Commanders on Nov. 16. After Miami beat the Buffalo Bills — a team that has been a thorn in its side the past few years — on Nov. 9, pass rusher Bradley Chubb spoke on a “delusional” mindset the squad has that has sparked its turnaround.
“We’re all delusional, man,” Chubb said. “We know what we can do, and we believe that if we put our minds to it, we can play complementary football like we did, the sky is the limit, man. You know what I mean? It’s not delusional, at the end of the day, because we know we can do it. We know we’re going to go out there and do it, and it’s just about each and every day having that same faith, the same mindset and trusting the plan.”
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said he “supports” such a mentality.
“If I had a dime for every time I was called delusional,” McDaniel said. “This is right down my alley. I support it just because the biggest thing is that there are six days of preparation, there’s a lot of talk, there are a lot of things that you can get involved in but at the end of every week, you have a game to play, and the winner goes to the team that plays the best that day, in that stadium, at that moment. You have a lot more control over circumstance at that moment when you just win the next thing during the week.”
He also claimed that the mentality only fortifies his belief that the guys on his roster are “made of the right material that it takes” to flourish at the highest level.
“I’m just very impressed, but not surprised,” he said. “It matches a belief that I’ve had the entire time with these guys — that they’re made of the right material that it takes to succeed in this league and a lot more often than not, you have to succeed on the heels of failure.”
In light of how the Dolphins have played over the last month or so, a late-season run that gets the team back in the playoff picture seems possible, even if it’s not statistically likely. NFL.com has calculated the Dolphins’ odds of making the playoffs at just one percent after they beat the Commanders in Spain.
Miami can boost those odds by taking care of business against some inferior competition in its next two games. The Dolphins will take on the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 30 and New York Jets on Dec. 7, and those are two of the worst teams in the league this season. Both the Saints and Jets are 2-8 on the season.
Maybe, the Dolphins’ current winning streak will soon be sitting at four games. As long as they play at the level they have across the past several weeks, fans should be confident that the Dolphins will win their next two contests.
