In getting shut out by the Bears on NFL Network, the Dolphins said goodbye to their faint playoff hopes and hello to the painful reality of third string quarterbacks

SCOTT JACOBS

There’s uninspired, and then there’s whatever that was.

Good thing Miami’s train wreck of a performance was on the NFL Network and not ESPN or NBC, because that was bad.  Real bad.  Shameful.  Brutal.  Unexplainably awful.  Anyone else want to kick in some other descriptions?

Miami’s loss to Chicago on Thursday Night Football was the epitome of listless.  With third string quarterback Tyler Thigpen leading an offense that was anemic with Chad Henne in charge, Miami barely mustered as many first downs as it had possessions. The Dolphins had 10 first downs (at least three coming on a final uninspired drive), and were 1-11 on 3rd down.

The Bears ran 20 more plays, had the ball 15:42 more, and held Miami’s Dlphins (no o) to 39 yards on the ground.

16-0. The score was never that close.  Miami’s defense held Jay Cutler’s unit to three field goals early which is the only reason the game was ever close.

Numbers aside it doesn’t take much to realize this offensively challenged Dolphins team is a total eye sore with Thigpen under center, and with idiot savant Brandon Marshall dropping a number of passes, then catching one and inexplicably tossing it to Cutler (netting a brilliant 15 yard penalty), then later getting hurt and missing the rest of the game.  That may be a run-on sentence, but at least that line got further than Miami’s offensive line did.  Miami’s no-line played horrendous, getting manhandled all night by Chicago’s front four.

Meanwhile the Bears improved to 7-3, and yet I still have no faith and minimal confidence if this latest Chicago team is actually for real.  Their defense was great, but they were again forgettable offensively, and it seems like Cutler can blow a game for them at a drop of the hat. Miami dropped numerous interception opportunities which wouldn’t have swung the game any differently, but maybe would have made it at least mildly entertaining.

With the loss the Dlphins dropped to 0-3 in night games this year, adding their latest no-show to the Pats debacle and the close SNF loss to the Jets. Miami is 5-5 but it looks like it’s only gonna get worse.  With the injury bug killing them, Miami appears to be freefalling.

But hey, at last they’re done with the national TV appearances.

Photo: AP

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