If you looked at the sky over Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, a rather unpleasant sight would’ve greeted you: A plane carrying a banner, “FIRE GRIER, FIRE MCDANIEL”. And if that was not enough, shortly after, the fanbase made things even clearer. As the Miami Dolphins trailed 12-0 in the first quarter vs the New England Patriots, loud boos reverberated through the stadium signaling toward an ardent loss in trust. That emotion only intensified after head coach Mike McDaniel reached the post-game press conference, thanks to his head-scratching answers.

On September 14, sports media personality Dov Kleiman shared a snippet of the HC’s interview that drew all the ire. In a take that can only be termed as confusing, McDaniel said, “To win games, you have to win the game. Not lose the game, honestly. And that is how you lose the game. You’re moving the ball down the field. You’re first and ten and then you find yourself at second and twenty. You know that was critical.” Already reeling off a staggering 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, their Week 2 clash was supposed to be a step toward regaining confidence. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite happened as McDaniel helplessly watched his team falter during big plays. Notably, during the fourth quarter with 1:09 remaining, the Dolphins were forced to endure a first-and-20 situation from New England’s 36-yard line, thanks to two penalties:

Center Aaron Brewer was handed a false start penalty (five yards), while the Dolphins were handed another 5-yard penalty due to a delay-of-game infarction. With less than two minutes left and Miami trailing 30-27, Andy Borregales then kicked through a 53-yard field goal to push New England’s lead to a six-point difference. Miami was kept alive when De’Von Achane appeared to have crossed on a 44-yard touchdown, only to be told by replay that he had gone out of bounds. It also didn’t help that Tagovailoa, who was 7-0 vs the Patriots till Sunday’s game, was sacked with less than a minute remaining, ending any chance for a comeback.

The quarterback ultimately ended the game going 26-of-32 for 315 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle displayed their elite-level separation ability, with the latter scoring on an 18-yard touchdown pass and Hill totaling 109 yards. Yet, what dominated conversation was how the Dolphins are slowly becoming a pain point for its fanbase.

Reacting to the boos, Tagovailoa said post-game, “I didn’t see any of that, but did hear the boos. It’s part of the game. The fans pay money, their hard-earned money to come and see their team play, and we go out there and we don’t look the part as we have previous years. So it’s all understandable, and it comes with the game. You get the boos, you get the cheers. It’s like anything else, you get the highs, you get the lows. But for us mentally as players, we’ve got to stay even keeled. We’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to continue to trust one another and build off of whatever this game was.” McDaniel, on the other hand, was also cool as a cucumber when talking about the dissent.

“I was coaching and calling a football game. 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,” the HC remarked when talking about the plane banner.

But does this mean fans are going to let him off the hook? Not at all.

Fans are calling out Mike McDaniel

One fan wrote with sarcasm: “He needs to go back to teaching 3rd grade or whatever he’s better at than coaching,” mocking what he perceived as the lack of seriousness on McDaniel’s part. Another remembered NFL’s recent past: “Shades of Mike McCarthy right before the Packers canned him. When a coach loses his team, this is what it looks like. Dolphins management must act—now.” Another one wrote regarding McDaniel’s public speaking and short fuse. “He can’t even form a sentence, it’s embarrassing and he needs to get fired immediately, we have had enough of his BS.”

Others dismissed the whole direction of the team overall, writing, “LMAO Dolphins are in shambles.” There was one frustrated fan who asked everybody to predict the coaches’ firing week, ”What week are we expecting him to get fired?” while another fan shared, “He mortgaged his career to Tua.”

It’s not too late. McDaniel has time to correct all the blunders. Hopefully, we’ll see some sort of change in Week 3 vs the Buffalo Bills. What do you think?