(Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins meet up on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Both teams came into the season as favorites on many prediction boards to win their respective divisions. Either that or they were almost certainly playoff bound. Injuries do play a big part in the game but not too many could have foreseen this.
At the beginning of the season, one would have thought this was going to be an unmissable matchup that would be as important as it could be for a non-conference game with both teams in the hunt for the playoffs. Really, it was going to be exciting. Warm weather playoff teams on opposite ends of the country playing each other in December. I’m sure that’s what the NFL schedule makers thought. It probably would have pulled in some pretty good ratings, too. But then to the dismay of the fans, the season happened.
As it stands, both teams are 6-8, and both fanbases are disappointed in full. The teams themselves do share some responsibility but a lot of their mutual demises belong to bad luck.
Dophins
One could summarize the Dolphins’ season with two words, “Tua’s concussion.” It certainly got a lot of attention. Journalists and podcasters from all over the sports world were weighing in on how Tua Tagovailoa needs to quit football. Or how he needs to wear that big silly looking helmet hat thing after he got knocked unconscious on the field, again. Because he got a stage four brain strain and a level nine memory blister. And he didn’t listen to any of it. But either way, he was gone too long and the team suffered mightily without him.
49ers
Another case of the injury blues happened to this team. When Christian McCaffrey went down it seemed to take the wind out of their already flappy sails. But the 49ers have been injured before. It didn’t seem to matter much because the talent was always so thick around Purdy, and that defense was downright nasty.
Then Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel went down, and Trent Williams tried to come back too early. Fred Warner played most of the season with a bone fracture in his foot. It has even gotten to the point where some people are calling for Shanahan’s job. But some people aren’t that bright, either.
The Dolphins have a 50.4 chance to win the game according to the NFL’s probability ratio. Essentially, the gamblers and the die-hards will have interest in this game. Or people who just really love football. Otherwise, you’re probably better off having read the article.
