MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Five games into the 2026 season, it’s been no secret the Miami Dolphins are the youngest team in the NFL. At some point, that stops being an excuse.
The Dolphins dropped to 0-5 after Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, during which they cut an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit to seven points but failed to recover an onside kick to extend the game. Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis threw for 137 yards and a touchdown, with a season-high 74 rushing yards and a touchdown -- but he threw two interceptions in the first half and lost a fumble, and Cincinnati scored 10 points off those turnovers.
Willis was critical of Miami’s offensive performance after the game and insisted that the team’s inexperience doesn’t make up for a lack of execution or accountability.
“All we can do is put it out the best we can, and continue to try to keep that better than it was the week before,” he said. “And it is too much and too hard to keep saying, ‘Oh, we’re just young. Oh, we’re trying to build this and build that.’ At the same time, we’ve got to hold each other accountable because we can’t keep doing this to ourselves.
“If we’re going to be in games versus good teams, we’ve got to be able to take advantage of it and go and win those games -- because there’s no point to be in the game if you can’t go and win.”
Miami’s 10 active rookies played a combined 455 snaps Sunday, and that’s without Caleb Douglas, Kyle Louis and Trey Moore, who are all expected to play significant roles when healthy.
First-year coach Jeff Hafley said last week that the Dolphins have “a lot of young guys in the huddle who don’t have experience playing,” but added that he expects improvement every week. One third of the way through the season, Hafley said the training wheels are off for his team, and he expects everyone to produce.
“I want to see more consistency. I want to see better execution,” he said Sunday. “I want to see the same fight. I want to see the same energy. I want to see the same connection.
The Dolphins have played the NFL’s third-hardest schedule through five weeks. Sunday’s game was their first against a team that wasn’t undefeated. But their past three games -- against the Chiefs, Vikings and Bengals -- have all been one-score contests in the fourth quarter.
Rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said after last week’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings that Miami still needed to learn how to win. Entering its bye week in Week 6, Willis said a focal point this week will be identifying how to start fast and how to execute in critical moments.
“I think we just got to watch the tape and figure it out,” he said. “And that’s the thing that I think Coach Haf does great. He holds everybody accountable and he’s honest with us. If we need to do better, we need to do better. And if we got to execute, we need to execute. We got to figure out a way to get guys on the same page because there’s just a lot left out on the field that could be better than what it is.
“We try to find a way at the end, but that’s just too hard to continue to try to fight back at the end.”
The Dolphins return from the bye to face the New York Jets in Week 7 in one of the most winnable remaining games on their schedule according to ESPN Analytics.
Hafley said the team will debrief from Sunday’s game, as usual, before starting its prep for the Jets. He doesn’t believe his players will grow discouraged by the lack of results, and believes the Dolphins are “building” an identity centered around physicality and effort.
“It’s just (what we have been saying since) day one. It’s who we are,” he said. “It’s what we have to be. We got really good guys. I don’t even think that’s going to be an issue.”