MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel declined to address his future with the team after Miami was routed 45–21 by the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the latest in a series of embarrassing losses.
Miami has already been eliminated from the playoffs for the second straight season. And for the second consecutive game, the Dolphins unraveled in the third quarter, undone by the costly mistakes that have plagued them all year.
Click to Gallery
Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers pauses during a news conference following a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers looks to pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A fan shows his frustration with the Miami Dolphins following an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel ponders a question at news conference following a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NFL Network reported earlier Sunday that owner Stephen Ross is expected to stick with McDaniel in 2026 despite another season of unfulfilled expectations for the Dolphins, who hold the NFL's longest playoff win drought at 25 years.
“The focus for me as a head coach, there is plenty to focus on," said McDaniel, declining to say if he's been told that he's coming back next season.
“I don’t spend my time thinking about the job I already have,” he added. “I try to do it to the best of my ability, and I have work to do to get our third quarters right. We’re not going to have any time to waste because there’s going to be a hungry Tampa (Bay) team that we’re going to face in a week. My focus is there, and everyone depends on me to have my focus there.”
McDaniel, who has faced questions about his job security all season, was much more willing to voice his frustration about the Dolphins' poor second half. Miami turned the ball over four times, leading to four Bengals touchdowns.
“I’m just very, very frustrated and angry about this continued third-quarter thing,” McDaniel said, “where it appears ... really the dam breaks and all of a sudden we play a different style of football. The way I look at it is I’m furious because I’m allowing it to happen. It starts with me. While I’m up here after games, you probably won’t get much other finger-pointing besides I need to get it fixed.”
Last week's loss at Pittsburgh ended the Dolphins' postseason hopes, and it also became clear that McDaniel would have to make what he described as a tough decision to bench struggling quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for rookie Quinn Ewers.
After naming Ewers the Dolphins' starter earlier this week, McDaniel said he was looking for conviction from the quarterback position.
In his first career start, Ewers provided Dolphins fans — some of whom put brown paper bags on their heads as the game got out of hand — a look at what he can add to the Dolphins' passing game.
Ewers completed 20 of 30 passes for 260 yards and led three scoring drives. He appeared calm operating Miami's offense and showed his ability to extend plays with his legs, something the Dolphins were missing with Tagovailoa this season.
“It didn’t feel fast to me,” Ewers said. “During the week I thought we did a good job of keeping our eyes on the play clock and not getting in the rhythm of practice. Like, ‘Hey, it’s just practice. We’re going to continue on to just go through the motions.’ But we had a play clock on me during the week, which I think helped a lot. It felt good to be out there. Didn’t feel fast.”
Ewers appeared more rattled in the second half, throwing a pair of interceptions, but McDaniel did not critique the rookie's second-half performance too much because of the way the team unraveled.
Tagovailoa was Miami's emergency third quarterback behind Ewers and veteran Zach Wilson. He stood on the sideline with a clipboard, giving Ewers pointers and celebrating after positive plays.
“He was good. Super encouraging to me and all the guys,” Ewers said. “He’s in a tough position in that spot. ... I’ve been there, and I know how he feels. I thought he did a really good job of helping me out on the sideline and continuing to talk to those guys and continuing to encourage those guys.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers pauses during a news conference following a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers looks to pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A fan shows his frustration with the Miami Dolphins following an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel ponders a question at news conference following a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to Americans on the war with new missile attacks targeting Israel and the Gulf Arab states Thursday, underlining Tehran’s insistence that it rejected Washington’s outreach for a ceasefire while maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain planned to hold a call Thursday with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait, through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded passes in peacetime. The 35 countries, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait. The call will discuss “diplomatic and political measures” that could restore shipping once the fighting is over.
Washington has insisted that Iran allow ships to freely transit the strait, but Trump this week has said it is not up to the U.S. to force it, and in his address encouraged countries that receive oil through Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”
In his address, Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” while also insisting American “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”
Iran's military said defiantly on Thursday that its armament facilities are hidden and will never be reached by Israeli or American attacks.
“The centers you think you have targeted are insignificant,” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
Just before Trump began his nearly 20-minute address on Wednesday, explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage. Less than a half hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was working to intercept incoming missiles.
Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.
Following a joint statement in March condemning Iranian attacks on unarmed commercial vessels that called upon Iran to “cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait,” the 35 signatories were to hold a virtual meeting Thursday hosted by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Though the oil and gas that typically transits the Strait of Hormuz primarily is sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region that were joining.
“Trump’s message was that the United States can sustain its own economic and energy ecosystem, while countries dependent on regional exports will either have to buy from the United States or manage the Strait themselves,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank wrote after the address.
“While Trump explicitly thanked U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf for their cooperation and allyship, an expedited U.S. withdrawal without securing the strait will leave many of these countries, whose economies are dependent on energy exports, in the lurch.”
No country appears willing to try and open the strait by force while the war is raging. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the group “will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities.”
Bahrain, which now holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has been working to get the world body to address the crisis as well.
Though Iran has allowed a trickle of ships through the strait, it remains largely closed. Iran has also been repeatedly attacking Gulf Arab energy infrastructure, sending oil prices skyrocketing and giving rise to broader economic problems worldwide.
Following Trump's speech, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again and was at $108 in early spot trading, up nearly 50% from Feb. 28 when Israel and the U.S. started the war with their attacks on Iran.
The rising energy prices and stock market jitters have been putting increasing domestic pressure on Trump, who used his address to offer a defense of the war while also suggesting it was close to winding down.
He acknowledged American service members who had been killed and said: “We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close.”
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire, but Trump didn’t say anything about the diplomatic efforts or bring up his April 6 deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face severe retaliation from the U.S.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Weissert reported from Washington and Rising reported from Bangkok.
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
