The Miami Dolphins’ playoff hopes came to an end in prime time against the Pittsburgh Steelers on ‘Monday Night Football’ in Week 15.
Miami had dug itself out of a 2-7 hole to be in contention for a wild-card playoff berth. Monday night’s loss to the Steelers ended the turnaround and leaves the Dolphins with plenty of questions entering 2026.
One of those comes at the most important position: quarterback.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel did not rule out benching Tua Tagovailoa after he struggled against the Steelers.
‘Everything is on the table,’ McDaniel said today and added that a decision isn’t final.
But overall, he believes the team has not gotten enough out of its starting quarterback.
‘Not good enough,’ McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa has struggled in 2025 despite starting all 14 games so far for the Dolphins. He leads the NFL in interceptions (15) and is on pace for his worst quarterback rating since his rookie season. His 36.7 QBR is by far the lowest of his six-year career.
Miami’s offense has performed well when Tagovailoa is healthy in recent years. He played at least 13 games in 2022 and 2023 and the offense finished 11th and second in points scored, respectively. He hasn’t missed a game this year and the offense is on pace to finish 23rd in points – the worst standing under McDaniel.
It’s been the running game, not the passing game behind Tagovailoa, that powered the Dolphins’ offense on its four-game winning streak prior to Week 15. The unit was averaging 192 rushing yards per game during that stretch.
Miami is back home in Week 16 to take on another team eliminated from wild-card contention: Cincinnati. Will Tagovailoa be the starter? Here’s what we know.
Are the Dolphins benching Tua Tagovailoa?
McDaniel did not commit to benching the Dolphins’ sixth-year starter on Tuesday but also left the door open for another quarterback to take the starting job ahead of Week 16.
‘All positions are the same,’ McDaniel said. ‘There’s no one entitled to preferential treatment. And when there’s a better option, we have to, you know, it’s my job to attack that. So, you know, I think there’s still a lot left in the day. Like I said before, 14 hours removed from the game. So, you know, I don’t trivialize any decision I make, particularly, you know, one where someone touches the ball every play.’
Who is Tua Tagovailoa’s backup?
Former No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson is Miami’s backup quarterback at time of publishing.
The former New York Jets and Denver Broncos quarterback signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Dolphins in free agency to back up Tagovailoa.
He’s played in three games for the Dolphins this year (zero starts) and completed 6 of 9 passes for 32 yards. He also has three rushing attempts for one yard.
Miami also has rookie seventh-round draft pick Quinn Ewers on the active roster. His lone regular-season action came against the Cleveland Browns in Week 7 when he completed 5 of 8 passes for 53 yards.