Cote: For 32nd straight year, no Miami Dolphins in AFC final. Let us count the reasons why | Opinion

Bill Clinton was elected president, the Cold War ended and I-eee-I-eee-I grew tired of hearing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” nonstop on the radio. (Radio was still a thing then.) It was 1992.

That was the last season the Miami Dolphins reached the AFC Championship Game -- one win from the Super Bowl. They lost. Haven’t been as close since.

I was going to show you a complete list of how many other NFL teams that have made the AFC or NFC title games more recently than Miami, but the Internet isn’t large enough to handle such volume. Quick answer: Almost all of them.

Twenty-nine of 31 other teams have reached football’s penultimate game since the Dolphins. The Houston Texans have never done it but have only been around since 2002, and won a playoff game this month. And the Cleveland Browns last reached the conference final in 1986. (Thank you, Cleveland, for boosting Dolfans’ flagging self-esteem. Misery-loves-company is a real thing, pathetic but true. We owe you. Visit next winter. Sunshine’s on us.)

So the surviving final four go at it next Sunday: No. 1 Kansas City vs. No. 2 Buffalo in a heavyweight AFC finale, and No. 2 Philadelphia vs. No. 6 Washington in a more surprising NFC final.

And for the 32nd year in a row Dolfans are left to wonder, ”Why not us? What do they have that we don’t?”

Let us explore a few possible answers:

▪ TALENT -- The four conference finalists had a combined 15 players make the Pro Bowl this season: Six Eagles, five Chiefs, two Bills and two Commanders. And that doesn’t even include Patrick Mahomes, who didn’t make it this year. Which is like the Earth not making the All-Planet team. Miami, after a playoff-less 8-9 season, had zero Pro Bowl players, one of only four teams shut out.

The Pro Bowl may be anecdotal but is a fair gauge of talent or lack thereof. Eleven of the 15 Pro Bowl players still playing are on offense, including the Bills’ Josh Allen, Eagles 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley and all-but-certain rookie of the year Jayden Daniels of the Commanders. And the other team has Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

Miami’s most dynamic weapon, Tyreek Hill, punctuated a disappointing season by seeming to quit on the team in the last game by making himself unavailable to return late. Afterward he said, “I’m out, bro,” a veiled trade request that his agent Drew Rosenhaus had to walk back. Hill more recently tweeted, “3 hour drive to Tampa about to be a breeze.” (Fact-check: Unless you’re in a bullet-train the Miami to Tampa drive is closer than 4 1/2 hours.) But that characteristically cryptic comment by Hill got more than 90,0000 views and media attention as a possible wooing of a trade to the Bucs.

▪ QUARTERBACK HEALTH -- The four starting QBs still playing have missed only two of 75 games due to injury this season (2.7 percent). The two were on account of a Hurts concussion. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa missed six of 17 games (35.3 percent), very likely the reason the Fins narrowly missed the playoffs.

Lacking the foresight to have a proven veteran backup QB despite Tua’s concussions/injury history, Miami scrambled to deploy three different subs in his absence.

Three of the remaining teams have legit dual-threat QBs able to beat you on the run; the fourth is Mahomes, who has the mobility or run when needed. Tagovailoa has made attributes, but fans wince and hold their breath when he starts running. I continue as pro-Tua, but his lack of mobility and having only one injury-free season are real drawbacks the final four teams do not share.

▪ OFFENSIVE LINE -- Philadelphia has three Pro Bowl O-linemen in Lane Johnson, Lanndon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens. Kansas City also has three in Joe Thuney, Trey Smith and Creed Humphrey. Six of their 10 starters are all-stars. Might it not be a coincidence they are the betting favorites to meet in the Super Bowl? (Bills also have a Pro Bowl blocker in Dion Dawkins.)

Miami has one high-grade OL in Terron Armstead, but he’s 33 and injury-prone.

▪ COACHING -- Chiefs’ Andy Reid is a three-time Super Bowl champ and future Hall of Famer (though a bad actor in those State Farm ads). Bills’ Sean McDermott is 86-45 with seven playoffs and five AFC East crowns since 2017. Eagles’ Nick Sirianni is 48-20 and in his second NFC title game since ‘21. A coach of the year case could be made for Commanders’ first-year leader Dan Quinn.

I’m not writing off Miami’s Mike McDaniel after one playoff-less season in which his QB missed a third of the games. Just a year ago he’d led the club to its first back-to-back playoff seasons since 2000-01. But I’m also not sure I’d take McDaniel over any of the final four coaches. Beyond injuries, this Fins season was wrought with unending dumb penalties like illegal shifts, illegal motion and such ---discipline penalties that weigh on coaching.

▪ LUCK -- Miami’s defense was improved under coordinator Anthony Weaver, and ranked ninth against both the run and pass. First-round rookie pass rusher Chop Robinson came on to seem like a promising pick moving forward. That defense also was missing top defenders Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb to injuries virtually all of the season -- yet still was comparable in points allowed to the four champ-game teams.

Miami’s offense was subpar at 20.3 points per game and especially disappointing running, with 2023 star Raheem Mostert all but disappearing. But no team misses a starting QB for six games without consequence. Though it can seem like an excuse, luck is a factor.

Bottom line?

The Miami Dolphins are stuck, off 8-9, with Hill still hinting he wants out, with Tua’s health a renewed concern, and with a mid-round draft pick (13th overall) not promising instant help.

Mostly, the Dolphins are stuck in an absolutely loaded AFC even beyond the two-time champion Chiefs and the nemesis Bills. Consider Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Ravens. The year Joe Burrow just had for Cincy. The promise of C.J. Stroud and Houston. The big improvement Jim Harbaugh brought to the Chargers. The Steelers always tough. And Denver’ big jump with rookie QB Bo Nix.

McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier absolutely should be fighting for their jobs next season.

Detroit made its first conference final since 1991 last season. Washington is now in it first also since ‘91. Other downtrodden franchises finally rise. What about Miami? When?

If the patience of 84-year-old owner Stephen Ross isn’t close to running out, it never will.