The Miami Dolphins suffered what might be their toughest loss of the season, falling 24-27 to the Carolina Panthers. That’s saying something, considering their season opener, an 8-33 collapse against the Colts, nearly set a new standard for frustration in Miami. Now sitting at 1-4, HC Mike McDaniel admits the team has every reason to feel awful about where they stand. And QB Tua Tagovailoa agrees.

“I am 100% showing up, getting myself ready,” Tagovailoa said in the post-game press conference. “Getting the guys that are going to be in the game as ready as possible for us to give us a chance to go out there, score, do what we need to do to help us win a ball game.”

That being said, he addressed the issues the team is facing. The Dolphins had entered the game as the No. 2 in the NFL on third downs offensively, converting 48.9 percent of the time, but had five consecutive failed third downs. “It’s tough. No one wants to start the season one and four. You know, it’s not like our team goes out there and we want to give up this or we want to not convert our third downs in the second half. You know, there are just so many things that go into it. And we got to figure this out,” the signal-caller added.

Sure, they started off well, converting 5 of their first 7 third-down attempts, but later on, they lost the plot. The team ended 5 of 13 on third downs.

And though Tagovailoa and McDaniel believe they need to turn things around, five games into the season might be too late for that kind of realization.

Here’s the thing: Miami lost to the Panthers despite three touchdown passes by their QB. And also despite a 2-0 turnover advantage. They couldn’t capitalize on their 17-0 lead in the second quarter. This leads to a number of important questions:

• How can the Dolphins’ run defense be this bad?
• How did Miami run for 19 total yards against the Panthers’ bad run defense?
• How or why did the Dolphins not target Darren Waller more in the second half after his good performance in the first half?

Going into the game against the Panthers, many fans believed the Dolphins could have easily extended their winning streak. It would have been two victories over two bad teams, the Jets and the Panthers. Now, there might not be too much optimism left considering Miami will next face the Chargers, then the Browns and the Falcons.

And coach McDaniel is feeling the heat.

Mike McDaniel’s post-game admission

McDaniel thought that the Dolphins’ defense was well prepared against the run game. But even with him previously hyping up the defense, seeing their early lead against Carolina go up in flames, he knew they had to do better. Speaking about his team’s 1-4 record, the coach noted:

“That’s not good enough. We are a much better team than letting a 17-0 lead eviscerate. So we will be extremely focused on getting that stuff corrected immediately, cause we have no time to waste.”

McDaniel’s plan was to stop Carolina’s run. Instead, Rico Dowdle carried 23 times, broke off runs of 53 and 43 yards in the second half. He averaged 9.0 yards a carry and recorded a 1-yard dive to give the Panthers their first lead.

The Dolphins’ coach’s frustration was further magnified because his team lost focus after a strong start. The defensive lapses exposed in this loss need urgent correction. All the while, the offense must avoid late-game drops and get better on third-down situations. Tua Tagovailoa’s intense clarity and Mike McDaniel’s frank admission hint that the talent is surely there, but the mistakes have piled up.

The path forward: no more blown leads, and figuring out how to stop the run. The Dolphins aren’t out, but the clock’s ticking to turn Miami’s season around. What do you think?