Miami Dolphins Enter Bye Week with Huge Long-Term Questions to Answer

The Miami Dolphins might be the biggest disappointment since the "Dream Team" 2011 Philadelphia Eagles.

After losing to the New York Jets, 27-14, at Wembley Stadium in London, the Dolphins fall to 1-3 for the first time since Joe Philbin's first year as the head coach. As such, it's no surprise there are major questions about the long-term future of this franchise at that position and others.

Philbin and his staff are under fire amid reports that the Dolphins are ready to "throw in the towel" on their season, as one Miami player put it, per NFL.com's Rand Getlin. Even with those reports coupled with another uninspired outing by the Dolphins, Philbin isn't letting on that there are any major changes coming in the future.

"No, not at all," Philbin said, according to James Walker of ESPN.com. "I'm worried about getting this team straightened out and fixed and getting our team ready to play the Tennessee Titans."

Perhaps these are the words of a desperate man who is watching his prestigious job, of which there are only 32 in the entire world, slip through his fingers. Perhaps these are just delusions created by years of complacency from the Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross, who are now 24-28 under Philbin.

The Dolphins headed to London hoping for a repeat of 2014, when they were 1-2 headed into a must-win game at Wembley Stadium against the Oakland Raiders. They spent much of Sunday afternoon hoping for someone to make the play that would turn around their season. 

A few times, it looked like wide receiver Jarvis Landry would be the one to make that play, but his impressive kickoff and punt returns on special teams were no match to overcome the atrocious offense and defense that surrounded him. He even had a touchdown reception the official waved off with a penalty, just to add to his fruitless production on Sunday.

As mentioned previously, this is the first time the Dolphins are 1-3 since 2012, Philbin's first year as head coach. From there, though, the Dolphins went on to win their next three straight games. They will need a similar run of success if they want to save jobs, but it may already be too late.

Ross beset playoff expectations on this team. Needless to say, the Dolphins do not look much like a playoff team through four games. They are averaging 14.4 points per game on offense and are yielding 25.3 points per game on defense. Sometimes, the coach takes the blame for an underachieving roster. In the case of the 2015 Dolphins, however, the underachieving can be traced back to the coaches in nearly every way.

In the past, the Dolphins have been regarded as a smart team that doesn't commit too many penalties. This year, the Dolphins have been flagged 34 times for 267 yards, according to NFLPenalties.com. Those penalties led to a series of 3rd-and-long situations, of which the Dolphins were able to convert none: facing distances of 11, 15, seven, 19, 10 and 10 in the first half and 10, 17, four, 13, 11 and 10 in the second half.

The Dolphins have also been plagued by slow starts in the first four games of the season, have been outscored 37-3 in the first quarter of their first four games and have faced a 77-27 total deficit at halftime of their first four games. It's no wonder they have been so unbalanced (35 passes and 11 rushes on Sunday vs. the Jets), although that's been a problem of theirs for years, with and without slow starts.

The slow starts can be attributed to a lack of execution on both sides of the ball, but the blame must also go to the coaches for poor preparation during the week.

Miami has way too much talent to be this bad. Clearly, some of the blame goes to the underachieving talent, but just as much of the blame must be passed to the coaching staff for failing to get the most out of a talented roster. Sure, there are problems on the roster as well. The front office has failed to fix issues in run defense, on the offensive line and in the secondary that led to the team's shortcomings over the past two years.

Compound those issues with the new problem of penalties, and there's no mystery to the Dolphins' slow start in 2015.

Ross' most difficult decision may not be whether to fire Philbin, but who will be his replacement. With how poorly the Dolphins are performing on both offense and defense, there just aren't (m)any viable options.