Kelly: Dolphins can’t get out of their own way in sloppy loss to Vikings | Opinion

The Miami Dolphins aren’t going to beat an opponent this season until South Florida’s NFL franchise stops beating itself.

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After the season’s fourth loss, a game where 15 combined penalties were committed in the first half, and 20 total in the game, enough is enough.

Young or not, the Dolphins need to be more disciplined with how they play on Sunday, and there needs to be consequences for sloppy execution, or penalty-prone plays because the Minnesota Vikings were completely beatable on Sunday.

Kyler Murray no longer looks like an NFL starter, especially without All-Pro Justin Jefferson in his stable of receivers. The Dolphins got constant pressure on the former first overall pick, sacking him four times.

But Murray was able to check down the ball plenty on Sunday — primarily targeting tight end T.J. Hockenson, who caught all 13 of the passes thrown his way, tying a career high — doing enough to secure the Vikings’ fourth victory of 2026.

The Dolphins defense actually held Minnesota to a field goal festival, tightening in the red zone and forcing the Vikings to kick five field goals during the contest.

But the problem is, Miami’s offense kept sputtering most of the game.

And when the team needed them the most, in the game’s final six minutes, while trailing by five points, the Dolphins offense did what it had done all season…..sputtered.

Jaylen Wright, who made his second NFL start as the replacement for injured Pro Bowler De’Von Achane, bobbled the kickoff, forcing the offense to start the critical drive on the 18-yard line.

Minnesota Vikings linebacker Kyle Van Noy’s pressure forced an errant pass from Malik Willis on second down, and facing a third-and-8 from the 20-yard line the Dolphins threw a desperate jump ball to a double-covered Chris Bell, which Willis threw off his back foot.

“To go down there and score, that’s what we needed to do to close the game off,” offensive guard Kadyn Proctor said, referring to a play where Willis was forced to play scramble ball because Brian Flores, the Vikings defensive coordinator, called for one of just infamous jailbreak blitzes, where seven Vikings were coming after Willis, who being protected by six blockers.

When the Vikings regained possession Minnesota gobbled up the clock, driving the ball to the 2-yard line before ending the game with the victory formation. What makes it worse if the fact Hockenson could have scored off his final reception but chose to take a knee at the 2-yard line.

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And with that, a winnable game was gift-wrapped to the Vikings because of Miami’s avalanche of errors, which features…..

At halftime, the Dolphins had 50 penalty yards and 76 total yards of offense.

Bell stepped an inch out of bounds on a possible 68-yard touchdown reception, which prompted the refs to call the play back for illegal touching.

Miami routinely had plays brought back by holding calls, like the two Patrick Paul were flagged for.

“It’s tough when your defense battles like that and you shoot yourself in the foot,” said Willis, completed 9-of-17 passes for 85 yards and gained 11 rushing yards on two carries.

The Dolphins had two returns that were stopped at midfield by Miami’s kickers and punters, which means the special teams coverage unit failed to do its job of getting the Vikings’ returner down before reaching Miami’s last defender.

And let’s not forget the punt and kickoff the Dolphins bobbled backed up into its own side of the field.

Miami also produced an inconsistent rushing attack in the team’s first game without Achane. The numbers look respectable because of the 53-yard run OIlie Gordon II produced on the first drive of the third quarter.

But Miami stalled in the red zone yet again, and the Dolphins were forced to kick a 27-yard Riley Patterson field goal.

The errors just kept piling up.

The problem is, it’s not just talent, or inexperience holding this team back.

It’s also play calling, and possibly game planning. The Dolphins haven’t stopped a tight end all season, and this loss was no exception.

While it’s super early to wonder about those types of things, does Achane’s return, selecting a quarterback early in the first round of the 2027 draft, or spending $100 million on free agents, replenishing the roster with veteran talent, fix these problems?

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Is that what the Dolphins need to become more competitive?

Or is it just a matter of time, and patience?

At this rate, it looks like we might have all season to figure that out.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish,” said Jacob Rodriguez, who

This story was originally published October 4, 2026 at 7:23 PM.