Cote: Dolphins crushed 35-13 by 49ers. Will Canes’ Mensah be the answer? | Opinion

It may be too soon for this conversation. But the Miami Dolphins’ 0-2 start with Sunday’s 35-13 loss in San Francisco — and the NFL’s toughest schedule having only just begun — suggests it’s pretty safe to broach the topic.

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Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah stays in town, trades uniforms, and transmogrifies into the Dolphins franchise QB and savior in 2027. Why not? The possibility looms.

NFL Draft Bible’s latest ‘27 Draft ranking lists Canes quarterback Darian Mensah No. 3 overall. Other highest-ranked QBs are Texas’ Arch Manning (second) and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (fourth). Mensah through three games has more scoring passes than incompletions for the unbeaten No. 6-ranked Canes. Repeat that. It’s still unbelievable.

And of course the starting-over Fins will be really bad this season. Bottom-tier lousy. Very likely top-five-draft-pick bad. New coach Jeff Hafley and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan had a solid offseason but have undertaken a major rebuild that this year will be more about dues-paying and growing than results.

Combine those two factors, stir gently, and you get a real possibility Mensah may be there for the taking by the Dolphins next spring. Be assured the Fins will (or certainly should) spend their top pick on a franchise QB if they have the chance – no matter how good Malik Willis might be this season.

The Dolphins in their 61-year history have had only three former Canes QBs throw a pass across town, and all three were bit-part subs: George Mira Sr. backing up Bob Griese in 1971, a late-career Bernie Kosar playing behind Dan Marino in 1994-96, and Craig Erickson doing the same in 1996-98.

Time for another Cane in aqua? The longer Mensah is great this season and the Dolphins are not, the louder the possibility will get.

Sunday did not do any blocking on the narrative.

The Dolphins largely dominated the first half yet trailed 14-6 at the break, settling for a pair of field goals (after missing a first try). Miami led in total yards 165-125 and in time of possession, 19:17 to 10:43, but gave up short scoring runs to Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy.

Points for effort and good-try attaboys normally don’t apply in professional football, but these rebuilding Dolphins may be an exception. Miami played 11 rookies in last week’s opening loss in Vegas for a combined total of 436 snaps — the most snaps by rookies for any team in a Week 1 since at least 2006, when that statistic was first tracked by Sportradar. Sunday in the Bay Area saw a similar emphasis on youth.

Miami is under the shadow of $180 million in dead money on the salary cap from the past regime’s awful decisions such as Tua Tagovailoa’s contact extension. The digging out from under that is arduous.

And this is the thing about the youngest team in the league: For moments and plays, maybe for a series (or a half), it might impress. It will fool you that the future has arrived.

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Then came the second half Sunday, and what one imagined this game might be like with the 49ers the biggest favorite in NFL Week 2. The baby Fins were back to Earth, sweet mirage yielding to the slap of reality. Inconsistency and error-proneness are telltale signs. Another missed makeable field goal. A costly dropped ball by the punter. Penalties. Settling in the red zone.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said coach Jeff Hafley. “We showed improvement. We played hard. We played looser. In the second half, I don’t think it was a lack of effort. There seemed to be miscommunication. We didn’t coach well enough in the second half. We didn’t play well enough. I thought we were ready to play better. Second half, not good enough in any phase. Mistakes hit us really hard.”

San Fran took all of four plays to drive 65 yards to open the second half, scoring on George Kittle’s 12-yard pass for a 21-6 advantage in Bay Area’s House Of Red.

Then a 3-and-out by Miami.

Then it’s 28-6, Niners — hey, what happened to that first half? — on Purdy’s 6-yard TD pass to fullback Kyle Juszczyk (who leads the league in surname most likely to misspell.)

Oops. Dolphins special-teams turnover. Another short McCaffrey score. And 35-6.

Remember that encouraging Dolphins first half? The third quarter was a pratfall embarrassing even for a team with the baked-in excuse of youth. The Dolphins spent the week practicing for Sunday in Napa and played much of the second half as if hungover — until the late 77-yard touchdown pass-play from Malik Willis to Ryan Miller softened the blow of the final score a bit.

“I felt good for Ryan, I didn’t feel good for the Miami Dolphins,” said Willis. “It didn’t help us. Just helped the stat sheet.”

The 49ers were everything these Dolphins are not, and showed it. Experienced. Proven. Full of accomplished stars. One team is learning. The other is the teacher.

A home opener against the Chiefs is next, then a trip to the Vikings, then Joe Burrow and the Bengals. It doesn’t get easier. This year, with this team, there are no gimmies. No, not even the Jets.

The losses will mount and next spring will draw ever closer. As close as Darian Mensah is right now.

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This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 7:20 PM.