Ranking Rams McVay among NFL head coaches (27-21)

21st-ranked Brian Flores

Head Coaching Record: 5-11 (.313)

Why is the head coach of a very bad Miami Dolphins ranked ahead of a playoff team head coach? Simply stated – the team had every reason to quit.  But it didn’t. The Miami Dolphins started the 2019 season by going 0-4. Not just four straight losses, but four mopped-the-floor-with-Dolphins sorts of losses.  The scores of those first four games were 163-26, but the games never seemed even that close. After that start, many considered the Dolphins as a certainty to choose first in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Somehow the team didn’t get that memo. In fact, the team that had every reason to lose suddenly found ways to win, including going 4-4 in the final eight games of the season. The Dolphins even defeated the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.  While the success crippled the team’s draft plans, it proved Flores can win.

The sophomore season gets tougher

The Dolphins head coach won when there was no pressure to do so. That will all change in 2020, as the team loaded up on players designed to win now. To prove this, the Dolphins were very active in signing NFL free agents.  They signed three defensive stars in CB Byron Jones, DT Shaq Lawson, and ILB Kyle Van Noy. And from the 2020 NFL Draft, the team added QB Tua Tagovailoa, OT Austin Jackson, G Solomon Kindley, and G Robert Hunt.  The expectation doesn’t need to be publicly announced.  The team expects improvement with the 27th-ranked offense and 30th-ranked defense.

But now things get tricky.  A 7-9 Cleveland Browns team added incredibly talented “win-now” veterans and finished 6-10 because the players had no clue what the Browns were trying to do. Will the Dolphins have a similar regression?  Not as obviously. Players added seemed to fit what the Dolphins intend to do.  Sometimes success is its own worst enemy. Can the Dolphins build on the 2019 momentum? Some believe that the Patriots are wounded, and the Dolphins can take advantage. I’m not as certain of that outcome. I think Miami will improve due to Flores. But how much of that means more wins?  The jury is still out.