What to Make of the Dolphins' Now-Extended Division Title Drought

The Miami Dolphins now have failed to win the AFC East for 16 consecutive years

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) runs between Miami Dolphins safety Marcus Maye (26) and linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah (91) in the fourth quarter at Highmark Stadium. / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

What practically had become a given became official Sunday night when the Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC East title with their snow-filled victory against the San Francisco 49ers.

For the Miami Dolphins, it officially meant a 16th consecutive season without a division title, extending what is by far the longest drought in franchise history.

Actually, it's more than double any other title-less stretch the Dolphins have ever experience — though endured probably is a better word.

The previous longest drought was the streak just before this one, the seven-year stretch that began in 2001 and last through 2007.

Add it up and we're looking at one division title in 24 years for a franchise that won the AFC East a staggering 10 times in the 15-year span from 1971 through 1985.

Since that 2001 season, the only team with a worst performance in terms of division titles is the Cleveland Browns, who have zero and are a loss or Pittsburgh Steelers win for being eliminated again in 2024.

The New York Jets and Detroit Lions also have only one division title since 2001, though the Lions currently lead the NFC North with a league-best (tied with KC) 11-1 record.

EXPLAINING THE DROUGHT

The first and simple answer as to why the Dolphins keep coming up short in the AFC East title has to be the quarterbacks who have occupied their division, and that means Tom Brady and Josh Allen.

Though there are other factors involved, the reality is New England won the AFC East title every single year with Brady at quarterback from 2003 until he left for Tampa Bay in the spring of 2020.

The Dolphins' division title of 2008 came after Brady tore an ACL in the season opener, and even then the Patriots finished with an 11-5 record, Miami winning the AFC East on a tiebreaker.

And now it's Allen, who has helped the Bills win the AFC East every year since Brady left.

This is kind of the same thing we're saying in the AFC West, where the Kansas City Chiefs are headed for their ninth consecutive division title and seventh since Patrick Mahomes took over as starting quarterback.

And how's this for a tidbit, the only starting quarterback to help his team win the AFC East between 2001 and now other than Brady and Allen is Chad Pennington, who did it with the Jets in 2002 and the Dolphins in 2008.

THE SAD STORY OF 2024

The Dolphins never really were in contention for the division title this season, unlike last year when they had a three-game lead with five weeks left.

This marked the earliest the Dolphins were eliminated from division title contention since 2019 when that happened in Week 11, though we don't really count that season because it was about rebuilding, retooling, tanking, whatever you want to call it.

Before that, you have to go back to 2017 — the Jay Cutler year — when the Dolphins also were eliminated from division title contention in Week 13 when they were 5-7 and the Patriots were 10-2.

In 2017, the Dolphins were eliminated in Week 11 when they were 4-6 and New England was 10-0.

That the Dolphins would be eliminated from the AFC East title picture this early was surprising because of what happened on their end, with the Tua Tagovailoa concussion and the 2-6 start, but Buffalo still being good really shouldn't have come as a surprise.

Sure, the Bills lost a lot of big-name players in the offseason when they said goodbye to mainstays like Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Mitch Morse, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde and Tre'Davious White, but they have been more than adequately replaced and Allen is playing as well as ever.

And unlike the Dolphins losing ascending or in-their-prime players Christian Wilkins, Robert Hunt and Andrew Van Ginkel (to name three), those players the Bills let go were descending players, as we've witnessed with Poyer's coverage issues this season.

The bottom line is the Bills' retooling of the offseason didn't set the team back on bit, and we probably can't say the same for the Dolphins.

And while, yes, the Tagovailoa injury was a game-changer for the Dolphins (and we can blame it on structural issues here or failing to land a more dependable backup), the reality is that Miami is 4-4 in the games that Tua has started and the performance at Green Bay on Thanksgiving night certainly didn't show a team that could have competing with Buffalo in 2024 regardless.

How the Dolphins — and the rest of the AFC East, for that matter — figure out how to get on a par with the Bills will be a task for the offseason.

For the Dolphins now, the focus has to be — as it has been for more than a month now — on correcting mistakes and trying to make a late playoff push.

If that happens, it will be as a wild-card team ... again.