Miami Dolphins News: Chad Henne on Thin Ice Says Mort, Bonamego Fired

Chad Henne might not be the starter for the Miami Dolphins much longer, according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

The Dolphins are looking at possibly replacing him with Chad Pennington and grooming Tyler Thigpen as the quarterback of the future.

This after the Dolphins start out 2-2, however they're 0-2 at home and 1-2 in the division.

I found this story on ESPN Insider and figured I'd pass it along with my opinions. 

This would be a ludicrous move on the Dolphins part, and if anything is a sure sign that this coaching staff is on very thin ice.

As well they should be, considering that the main problem last night was special teams, which lets face it, is about coaching more so than any other facet of the game.

Yes, Henne threw three horrible picks, however, he's still 9-8 for his career and has two consecutive 300+ yard games. He needs more time to develop.

But, if there's one thing about the NFL, it's that coaches very rarely get time, especially a coaching staff that came in thanks to one owner. The Dolphins then had to deal with a brand new owner who has his own people that he'd like to hire.

So instead of giving Henne more time, which is deserved considering that last night was only his 17th start, they'll consider benching him and adding him to the list like he's AJ Feeley, Brian Griese, Daunte Culpepper, and John Beck, another quarterback that couldn't stack up to Dan Marino.

Enough is enough, with this coaching staff.

This is nothing more than a pure CYA move. CYA of course means "cover your @$$," which is what this current coaching staff is trying to do.

Funny thing is, I blame the coaching staff for about, 99 percent of the Dolphins problems; such as horrid special teams, their insistence on using the Wildcat when its already been proved to be ineffective this year, and bad play calling.

The only coach on this staff this year that has made a positive impact has been Mike Nolan.

Now lets look at the horrid special teams. With the exception of kicker, punter, and kick and punt return men, special teams players are pretty interchangeable.

They don't get noticed unless their special teams legends like Don Beebe, or they do something stupid. This means that the onus isn't on the players but instead on the coaching staff. 

The special teams last night gave up a 103 yard kick off return, followed by a blocked punt that lead to a Patriots touchdown, and a blocked field goal that lead to another Pats TD. 

Failures on special teams should rest on the coaches, however the players are stepping up and holding themselves accountable for the loss last night, with Cameron Wake even saying  an interview he gave up after the game when asked if his team was prepared for the game:

“You ask me three hours ago, I would’ve answered, ‘Without a doubt,’” he said. “I felt like we were prepared. Just had some breakdowns. But everyone has a job. You’re accountable, you’re a grown man, you got to do it. That’s it.”

Maybe his coaches should take his advice. By benching Henne, the coaches aren't holding themselves accountable. You don't bench a young quarterback and just give up on him after four games when those four games consist of:

Games 1 and 2: Handcuffing him, not opening up the offense.

Game 3: A brilliant performance that kept the Dolphins in the game despite terrible offensive play calling.

Game 4: His first bad game of the season and only his second bad game of his young NFL career.

As a coach your job is to inspire your quarterback to be confident, but that's hard to do if you're not confident in him. I don't see why they wouldn't be confident in Henne when last night, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden—a former QB and a coach known for working with QB's—were plenty confident in him.

I hate to mention the Jets, but they're on to something: at no point last year, a season in which Rex Ryan himself considered the Jets out of the playoffs at one point, did his confidence in Mark Sanchez waver. After the opening night stinker that he had, his confidence in Sanchez never wavered. 

In the last three games the Jets have reaped the benefits of their confidence in the him. Sanchez has outplayed Brady, pulled to a draw with Henne, and dominated the Bills defense. Next week I see him more confident than ever, out playing Brett Favre.

Does this happen if last season while he was struggling the Jets yank him around and play the I'm not sure guessing game with him? Absolutely not.

Young QB's are going to have their growing pains. Peyton Manning went 3-13 his first season in the league, Joe Montana went 2-6 in his first eight starts. The list goes on and on.

Again, I should mention that Henne is 9-8, 2-1 against the Jets. He did contribute a little bit to last night's loss, but not the way the special teams did. And again, he kept the Dolphins in the game against the Jets last week. He has poise, confidence in himself, and he also has the confidence in his fans.

It's the coaches who he still has to gain the trust of, but as long as they're in CYA mode, that won't happen.

This staff preaches accountability for actions, yet by benching Henne, if that turns out to be the case, they show that they're not willing to accept accountability themselves.

This is the classic example of the coach that expects to get all the praise when they're winning, but shift all of the blame to the players when they aren't.

Now I know with the lockout looming and a new owner who'd rather bring in a bigger name head coach (Cowher, Gruden, etc.) and feels more like he's saddled with the current regime—there is more pressure on the coaching staff.

But if they want to show they're winners, then instead of benching Henne, they'll man up and take responsibility this bye week.

Meanwhile, going back to special teams and how its all about coaching, special teams Coach John Bonamego was fired this morning. In his place the Dolphins promoted Darren Rizzi, Bonamego's assistant.

While I feel bad for Bonamego because he did lose his job, it was a decision that had to be made even if it was to just "stop the bleeding." 

However, from what I've seen I doubt it will have much of an impact. It was a CYA move by Sparano. 

A justified CYA move, but a CYA move none the less. Henne's benching to me would be unjustified though.

And if in two weeks at Lambeau I see Pennington run onto the field with the offense for any reason other than Henne being hurt, I will not be happy with this Dolphins regime.

This was an impromptu edition of Dolfan Diaries. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment. Follow Tom on twitter, @thomasgalicia.