MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Remember the final four minutes of Sunday's 27-24 loss to the Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins fans. This might be remembered as the moment when the season veered in the wrong direction.
After a Green Bay field goal, host Miami led the streaking Packers by four points with 4:09 left. Good teams close those games out at home. The Dolphins didn't, allowing a masterful game-winning touchdown drive by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
"It was a lot of four-letter words," defensive end Cameron Wake said of the postgame mood.
Miami (2-3) has lost three of its past four games and will play five of its next seven on the road. That stretch includes tough opponents, such as Detroit (4-2), San Diego (5-1) and Denver (4-1). Miami also will play Buffalo (3-3) during that span; the Dolphins have lost three straight to the Bills and four of the past five.
The Dolphins, who haven't won consecutive games since December, certainly won't survive this stretch if they continue to be this inconsistent.
During Sunday's decisive drive -- which ended on Andrew Quarless' touchdown catch with three seconds to play -- Rodgers converted on a fourth-and-10 and even executed a fake spike and completion near the goal line. That move, of course, was made famous by former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, who was in attendance.
And with that, the blame game began -- as in, the Dolphins blaming themselves.
Dolphins linemen Daryn Collegde and Ja'Wuan James said the Miami offense was at fault for not getting late first downs and keeping the ball out of Rodgers' hands.
Miami linebacker Philip Wheeler, who gave up the game-winning touchdown, also seemed to point the finger at his coaching staff. Rodgers clearly saw a weakness on the right side of the defense on the final drive. According to ESPN Stats ∓ Information research, Rodgers completed 4 of 5 passes on the right side in the final two minutes, including the touchdown to Quarless over Wheeler.
"It was 50 percent bad play call and 50 percent bad coverage," Wheeler said about the decisive touchdown.
Asked to clarify, Wheeler added, "I feel like [Rodgers] figured us out toward the end. He knew we were in man-to-man and that I would have single coverage on the tight end."
Dolphins coach Joe Philbin also was a culprit. He called a late timeout on fourth-and-10, allowing the Packers' offense to regroup. Philbin said after the game their strategy is called "Kodaking," where they let the offense line up to see the formation and the play before calling a timeout.
It didn't work. Rodgers came out of the timeout and threw an 18-yard pass to Packers receiver Jordy Nelson to set up the game-winning touchdown.
Throughout his tenure, Philbin has struggled with clock management and late-game decisions such as these. It is part of the reason why he is 17-20 in three years as Miami's head coach. Those final four minutes essentially summed up Philbin's tenure as head coach -- close but not good enough.
Philbin and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle also reportedly were caught on the Fox television cameras having a brief-but-animated exchange in the first half. Philbin didn't have much to say about it.
"That was in the heat of the game," Philbin said.
This is the kind of game the Dolphins will look back on in December as a missed opportunity, especially if they fail to make the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.
"Individually, we got to look ourselves in the mirror and tell yourself first and foremost that 'I can't be beaten. I'm not going to allow myself to win one rep and lose one rep,'" Dolphins veteran safety Louis Delmas said. "If the total defense has that mindset and the total offense and total special teams have that mindset each and every rep, we won't have that excuse at the end to come out to play one good series or play one good game and lose another game.
"It's not coaching. It's not scheme or anything. It's all players. We're the ones that go out and play."
