It seems pretty obvious at this point that the Miami Dolphins are in for a rough season in 2026.
That much was clear even before the 2026 schedule was released. Based on 2025 opponent win percentage, the Dolphins have the second-hardest schedule in the league. Combine that with the team also sporting one of the least-talented rosters in the league, and it could be a long season in Miami.
However, there's one spot of the Dolphins' schedule that is especially brutal for one key reason- cold weather.
Hardest part of Dolphins' schedule identified
If there's one thing we can say about the Dolphins, at least in recent memory, it's that they struggle in cold weather. In fact, the team has lost 15 games in a row that were played in temperatures of 40 degrees or lower.
Could that have been a product of Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McDaniel, or somebody else not associated with the team anymore? That's possible, but 15 games is no small sample size. Until we actually see the Dolphins perform on the road in the cold, it's hard to believe it will happen.
That's unfortunate, because the Dolphins have a brutal stretch near the end of the 2026 season. Starting on November 22, the Dolphins play their final four road games in cold-weather cities (at Bills, at Broncos, at Packers, at Patriots). These are all going to be cold, outdoor games, which could be horrible for the Dolphins.
It's bad enough that the Dolphins have to play the Bills and Patriots twice, as well as the entire NFC North and AFC West, so lining up all of those cold-weather road games at the end of the season just feels cruel.
If there's any silver lining, it's that new quarterback Malik Willis and head coach Jeff Hafley came to Miami from Green Bay. Perhaps Hafley knows a way to better prepare his players for the cold, but it's not like Willis played much for the Packers.
Can Miami get past cold weather issues?
As mentioned above, the Dolphins have lost 15 games in a row in temperatures under 40 degrees. It's not that the Dolphins have lost cold-weather games, it's that they have often been completely dominated. Under McDaniel, this team didn't even look the same when playing on the road.
In 2026, even if the team plays better on the road, it's hard to find one of those four late-season games that the Dolphins could win. The Bills, Broncos, Packers, and Patriots are all expected to be contenders in 2026, and by this point in the season, they will certainly have playoff seeding on the line.
To sum this all up, if the Dolphins are going to get better in cold weather, it probably isn't going to happen in 2026.
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