The Miami Dolphins clearly had a bad offense entering their Week 5 matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals. But after the contest, the Dolphins have entered the realm of historically bad.
That’s what The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia indicated with analytical data he shared on social media late Sunday night. Based on offensive efficiency, no team over the past five years has been worse than Jeff Hafley’s club.
“The 2026 Miami Dolphins have the worst offensive success rate for any team through Week 5 in the last five seasons — 160th out of 160,” wrote Kapadia on X.
In the more traditional statistics, the Dolphins entered Week 5 ranked last in points scored and 30th in total yards. Miami could improve in those statistics after Sunday’s game, but they weren’t any more successful in a lot of situations.
The Dolphins turned the ball over three times versus the Bengals. They also committed seven penalties.
Dolphins Offense Improves But Still Among Worst in NFL
Before Sunday, the only area where the Dolphins had respectable statistics was the ground attack. From a passing perspective, Miami entered Sunday ranked 30th in yards and 32nd in touchdowns.
Granted, the Dolphins were also 31st in passing attempts, but they still were just 21st in net yards per pass as well.
Furthermore, entering Sunday, the Dolphins were last in points per drive and 30th in percentage of drives that end in an offensive score.
Thanks to the ground attack, the Dolphins had some respectable totals in Week 5. Miami ran for 217 yards while averaging 6.4 yards per attempt.
But the Dolphins only had 114 passing yards, averaging 3.8 yards per pass against Cincinnati. Behind that, the Dolphins had just 10 points after three quarters. Miami scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make the final score of 31-24 seem closer than it really was.
Quarterback Malik Willis was 15-for-27 with 137 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also took three sacks. Those totals likely didn’t help the offense’s success rate.
After five games, Willis has two touchdowns versus four interceptions. He’s also been sacked 15 times while completing only 56.2% of his throws for 849 yards. Willis has averaged 6.5 yards per carry. In a small sample, he’s averaging more yards on the ground per attempt than he is through the air.
With their loss to the Bengals, the Dolphins fell to 0-5. Miami’s opponents have outscored the team 132-70 through five weeks.
While the Dolphins have experienced a difficult schedule, the team clearly has an offensive problem. Willis isn’t playing well, and outside of some rushing yards, he’s not getting a lot of help.
The Dolphins will have a Week 6 bye, which could be good or bad. The team will have extra time to regroup before its next game, but the Dolphins could also dwell on their unsuccessful offense for an extra week.
Miami will face the New York Jets on October 25 after the week off.
Dolphins Make Bad History After Week 5 Loss to Bengals