2021 Miami Dolphins fans worried about direction of team? Not anymore

Remember way back when, that dark time when the Miami Dolphins were one of the worst teams in the league, potentially giving the Philadelphia Eagles - who own Miami’s first-round pick - a top ten (five? three?) selection in the 2022 NFL Draft? Remember when the Brian Flores-era rebuild was a complete and utter failure, with everyone needing to be fired and the entire team blown up?

Those dark, long-ago days seem like a bad dream now as the Dolphins look like an aggressive team making a push toward the playoffs. It is fun being a fan of a team like this, unlike that one that we are all hoping will soon fade from memory.

And we all know, as time passes, our memories do begin to fade. Those dark-days of Dolphins football will soon be gone. We cannot be asked to remember things from so far back. Three weeks is just an eternity.

Heading into Week 10, our DraftKings Sportsbook and SB Nation Reacts fan-confidence poll showed just 16 percent of Dolphins fans were confident in the direction of the team. Fast forward to the team heading into Week 13 and, I think it is safe to say the fan confidence has increased a little.

Now, 74 percent of the fans are confident in the direction of the team. The last time the Dolphins reached this high in fan confidence was heading into Week 2, when 90 percent of the fans believed the tea was headed in the right direction. Miami has not seen a majority of the fans confident in the direction of the team since before Week 3, when the poll showed 58 percent of the fans confident in the Dolphins’ direction (the poll before Week 4 was split at 50/50).

The Dolphins, with a 74 percent fan-confidence rating, have the 12th best rate in the league. They trail the Arizona Cardinals (9-2) and Cincinnati Bengals (7-4), both at 100 percent, the New England Patriots (8-4) at 98 percent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3) at 96 percent, the Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) at 94 percent, and the Baltimore Ravens (8-3) and Buffalo Bills (7-4) both at 90 percent. Also ahead of Miami are the San Francisco 49ers (6-5) at 88 percent, the Indianapolis Colts (6-6) at 86 percent, the Washington Football Team (5-6) at 85 percent, and the Tennessee Titans (8-4) at 80 percent.

Other than Washington, every team with fans more confident in their team than Miami’s fans are with the Dolphins, has at least a .500 and looks like they are headed to the playoffs.

The Dolphins host the New York Giants (4-7, 32 percent fan confidence) tomorrow. A win would push the Dolphins to within a game of .500, extend their winning streak to five games, and send the team into their bye week with a true shot at overcoming a seven-game losing streak and making the playoffs a true possibility. What would the fan confidence look like then?

Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.