The Miami Dolphins will head home after Saturday’s 20-13 defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bears looking to recalibrate their expectations. This goes for the coaching staff and players alike — and potentially even the front office if the team decides they didn’t like what they saw in any specific areas of the field. But for bubble players, yesterday’s game was a time to make a statement and potentially help sell the Dolphins on their viability as a roster player for the regular season.
Who is walking away from Saturday’s contest against the Bears wishing things may have gone differently? Here are three bubble players who hurt themselves against Chicago.
TE Chris Myarick
Myarick coughed up the football in the second half after the Dolphins were set up on a short field and looking to score their first points of the half after seeing Chicago climb all the way back from the 13-0 deficit the starters and primary backups put the Bears into. Myarick caught a pass over the middle, turned upfield and promptly put the ball on the turf in an exchange that would ultimately cost the Dolphins valuable field position and likely points.
Making the roster in this tight end room is going to be next to impossible anyway, but Myarick won’t stand a chance making mistakes like this.
Every backup offensive lineman
Expect the narrative around the Dolphins this week to feature plenty of hard questions about the offensive line. The Dolphins ultimately left several starters in the game through the entire first half — quite the indictment of their performance. But by the time QB Reid Sinnett made it onto the field, he was running for his life. Sinnett was sacked three times and the offense could hardly so much as string together a few successful plays in a row, let alone a scoring drive.
WR Kirk Merritt
Merritt was the one who got flagged for offensive pass interference late in the game with Miami looking to climb back into the lead. The score was 17-13 midway through the 4th quarter and Miami had just converted a 4th and 4 to move to the Chicago 29-yard line. Merritt was flagged for OPI on the play and forced the Dolphins to punt. Two plays later, Chicago sprang a 51-yard run and was positioned to kick the final points of the game. Merritt’s play was good in theory, but clearly needs to be more subtle to help prevent flags and allow designed rubs to work.