Before you attack me for my headline, I understand that for most fans of NFL teams, any season that does not lead to the playoffs is considered a bad season, or at least less than they were expecting. 

That's the key word here, because who was "expecting" this Miami Dolphins team to make the playoffs?  Anyone who says that at the beginning of the season, they were calling for a ten or eleven win year and a playoff berth, is probably lying to you. 

I, myself picked 8-8, believing I may have been too optimistic, which it turns out  I was, by one game. 

A majority of NFL experts didn't have the Fins winning more than 2 to 5 games this season, especially after watching the shenanigans on HBO's "Hard Knocks".  Chad Johnson, the only receiver with a recognizeable name, was let go on the show, before the start of the season. 

That, alone had fans worried, though if you look at the fact that no other teams picked up the former "OchoCinco", Miami head coach Joe Philbin looks a bit smarter for making that move.  Obviously Chad has lost a considerable amount of his talent. 

This was a season that was more about rebuilding than winning right away.  We started a rookie quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, who showed some flashes of being a good NFL starting QB. 

I recently heard a local NFL "expert" compare Tanny's rookie numbers to those of Chad Henne and they were similar...eerily similar, in fact.  But I offer this: Henne had the services of Brandon Marshall.  Ryan Tannehill put up his numbers with Brian Hartline as his number 1 receiver.  Hartline had a career season, with which you may credit Tanny. 

The Fins need a true number one wideout, a tight end that can be counted on to catch the ball everytime it's thrown his way and then we can truly grade Tannehill. 

The organization also has to figure out what it's going to do about several free agents during the off-season, including former number one overall draft pick, left tackle Jake Long, whose numbers went down this season, before he missed the end of the year with an injury. 

Reggie Bush is another question mark.  Is he worth paying free agent money?  Some games I would have said "yes", others had me yelling "no". 

Meanwhile, the Dolphins wrap up another losing season (7-9), but, in my opinion, with high hopes for next season.  Hopefully Jeff Ireland doesn't botch another draft.

Joel Malkin