At the start of the 2019 NFL season, the expectations for the Miami Dolphins were so low that there were pundits and insiders were more likely to project the Dolphins to be the worst team in NFL history than they were to predict 5 wins. Fast forward to the end of the season and the Dolphins indeed found their 5th win — in Foxborough at the expense of the New England Patriots, who needed a win in Week 17 to secure a 1st-round bye in the AFC playoffs.
And as the Dolphins pushed forward to a 5-4 record over the team’s final 9 games, some rumblings in the media began to bubble that Flores’ work with Miami warranted consideration for the NFL’s Coach of the Year award. After all, the roster was torn down by design and wasn’t supposed to be able to run out on a weekly basis and compete.
Yet it did.
And yesterday, the NFL’s Coach of the Year winner was revealed. It, predictably, wasn’t Brian Flores. We won’t argue that he should have won — such awards are usually reserved for resounding success, not upstart surprises. But the details of the voting did bring one disappointing revelation: 6 coaches received a vote.
Brian Flores wasn’t among them.
The New Orleans Saints were considered Super Bowl contenders at the beginning of the season — they went 13-3 on the year. But they lost a home playoff game to Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings. And Sean Payton received a vote.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, sans Ben Roethlisberger and amid a slew of other injuries, went 8-8 this season. But they lost their final 3 games to fumble away a playoff berth. And Mike Tomlin received a vote.
Yet the Dolphins, with a roster many pegged as one that had the potential to become the worst team in NFL history, went 5-4 over their final 9 games — including two wins over playoff teams — and Brian Flores couldn’t garner a single vote?
We’ve got a hard time wrapping our heads around that one.
