Dolphins fan confidence continues to increase; Fans see 2023 as successful year

The Miami Dolphins lost yesterday in their Wild Card playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, but the fans seem to believe 2023 was a successful year for the South Florida franchise. The weekend got away from me a little, so our normal look back at our SB Nation Reacts survey has been delayed a little, but we do catch up with them today. Last week, we asked our normal fan confidence question along with questions focused on the Dolphins’ 2023 season, how far in the playoffs Miami would go, and for a grade for head coach Mike McDaniel in his first year with the team.

In Week 18, our fan confidence poll showed the fan base was nearly split on how they felt about the direction of the team. After being as high as 99 percent in the season, fan confidence in the direction of the team had fallen as low as 34 percent in Week 17. It climbed back to 48 percent last week. In this week’s survey, the number jumped back up to 64 percent of the fan base feeling confident in the direction of the team.

As for the Dolphins’ 2022 season, the fans feel like it was a good one for the team. After starting the year on a three-game win streak, the team lost three in a row. They came back to win five straight game, but then dropped five in a row. They won the season finale to put themselves into a position for a playoff berth, finishing the year 9-8 for a third-straight winning record. The playoff berth was the first time in the postseason for Miami since 2016 and gave the team a chance to end their playoff-win drought, a streak that goes back to the 2000 season. With the regular season in the rearview, 52 percent of the fans felt Miami had a successful 2022-2023 season.

The Dolphins fans did correctly predict how long Miami would last in the postseason this year, with 90 percent of them saying Miami would see their season end in the Wild Card Round. Another six percent thought the Dolphins would make it to the Divisional Round, two percent saw them in the AFC Championship, and the final two percent held out hope for a Super Bowl championship.

Our final question looked at head coach Mike McDaniel and how he performed in his first year as the team’s head coach. The fans voted, with 58 percent of the fans saying he deserved a B as a grade for his performance. Ten percent gave him an A grade, 26 percent put him at a C, four percent a D, and two percent an F.

We will be back this week with another round of our SB Nation Reacts fan confidence polls as we head into the offseason for the Dolphins. Did Miami’s performance against the Bills increase your confidence in the direction of the team? Did the loss drop your confidence?

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