Miami Dolphins vs. Chicago Bears: Reactions From a Demoralizing Loss

Lets call a spade a spade.

There is just no more beating around the bush with this Miami Dolphins team: They are mediocre at best.

Thursday night's 16-0 loss to the Chicago Bears at Sun Life Stadium showed Miami Dolphins fans and coaching staff alike that the team is far from even being a playoff contender in this league.

While injuries are running rampant throughout the locker room, the fact of the matter is that the next guy must be able to step in and do a serviceable job.

By the end of the game, the third-string center was snapping to the third-string quarterback, and the beast himself, Brandon Marshall was in street clothes on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring in the second quarter.

Fill-in center Corey Proctor was seen in the locker room after the game in a complete leg brace and will be taken to get an MRI on Friday on what looks to be a torn ACL. This would deem him injured for the remainder of the season.

It is obvious by the lack of a running game that the offensive line is torn to pieces now. Yet two guys who served on what was labeled as a "dominant" offensive line last year are still available in free agency, including former center Jake Grove.

One game after Dan Henning somewhat redeemed himself by opening up the playbook, he reverted to his old self and seemingly lost his mind in this game.

Did he really think Tyler Thigpen was so good as to only call six rushing plays the entire game? Did he really put the most important game of the season thus far in the hands of the third-string quarterback when you have two former first-round draft picks in the backfield?

A game after the Wildcat formation seemingly made its way back into the Miami offense, they abandoned it again. Bears LB Brian Urlacher said "They didn’t even have any Wildcat. We prepared for that thing, and they didn’t run it. So thank you."

With under six minutes to play in the game and trailing by 16, Miami's offense got the ball back and they ran play action three consecutive times in a row.

One play resulted in a sack after Thigpen faked the handoff and turned around, only to be greeted by Julius Peppers (who had three sacks in this game, after only two up to this point all year. Shows you how Jake Long was not on his game).

Did Dan Henning think the Bears thought that Miami would run the ball with six minutes left trailing by 16 and having run six total rushes the ENTIRE GAME?! I just do not understand the ideology behind the play calling.

Here are some disturbing facts from this game:

- Only the third time the Miami Dolphins have been shut out at home since 1970

- Miami rushed for a total of 39 yards (Tony Sparano's worst output in his tenure as the head coach), 11 coming from Ronnie and Ricky combined.

- Chicago's offense converted on 10 of 18 third-down conversions. Miami's offense converted on 1 of 11 third down opportunities.

- Miami's longest drive of the game was their opening possession, in which they held the ball for 3 minutes and 27 seconds. The drive resulted in a punt. Eight of the remaining nine possessions of the game, Miami held the ball for less than three minutes.

- Anthony Fasano, who recently signed a two-year contract extension, had one catch.

- Miami lost the time of possession battle 37:51 to 22:09

All in all, it was an ugly loss. There was very little positive to take out of this game.

Cameron Wake played out of his mind as he was in the backfield all day, but it has to be said that he was going against a rookie seventh-round draft pick in J'Marcus Webb.

Nolan Carroll looked decent on kick returns, as he averaged over 30 yards a return and broke one out for 46 yards.

Miami's defense did not look especially bad but towards the end of the game, when the offense couldn't scrum together a first down, they worn down and eventually the Bears drove down the field and put the game-clinching touchdown in their back pockets.

The defense did what you want it to do, keep you in the game and make some plays. Miami sacked Cutler a few times and Benny Sapp made a interception on Cutler, in which the offense then went three-and-out.

One thing that especially bothered me about the defense was their inability to get off the field. The Bears converted on more than 50% of their third downs, including one Jay Cutler scramble for 16 yards on a third-and-15.

Mike Nolan seemed poised to give the Bears five yards of free play on coverages and this allowed the Bears easy success on slants and short patterns.

This season on national television for the country to see, Miami is 0-3 (all games at home) and have been outscored 88-37.

I wrote in my article after the New England Patriots game that the Miami Dolphins season was over only after four games. Now in the minds of many fans, the Miami Dolphins are on the clock in 2011 draft, in which looks to be a quarterback-filled class with possibly Cam Newton, Jake Locker, Andrew Luck and Ryan Mallett.

I know it may seem ludicrous to jump the gun, but let's be honest here, folks; the Miami Dolphins are simply NOT a good team.

Follow me on twitter @ZackDuarte

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND DISCUSS BELOW, THE ONLY WAY TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT THE PAIN THAT IS THE MIAMI DOLPHINS IS TO DISCUSS TOGETHER!!