You only get a limited number of chances

This hurts deep in the soul. We had the chance for a special season and missed it. Every November has felt the same for 20 years.

I’ll delve deeper into it as I rewatch, but my overall takeaway is this: Miami ultimately fell to its true level. We won games we could have lost and we lost games we could have won. In the end, we were who we were all year long.

We have a national championship offense. We have a bad defense. And we lack discipline overall. We came into this game ranked 120th in penalty yards per game. With the season on the line, we converted two of the most immature penalties in team history. That wasn’t a coincidence.

Add it all up and you get 10-2. Do I expect major personnel changes in defense? Yes. But that’s not the only area where we need to improve.

Ultimately, everything belongs to Mario. He missed a rare opportunity. Now the distribution of possession in both directions is crucial – you can’t blame him for the defensive failures and then ignore the strength of the offense. We were fortunate to have Cam Ward, but he also brought in Cam Ward and built his supporting cast. The question now is whether we can improve enough elsewhere to compensate for the loss of such a unique and special player.

This season will be remembered in two ways: as the start of something lasting, or as a fun, ultimately disappointing fluke like 2017. For real progress, this team needs to reshape its defensive identity. They can fire coaches and recruit better DBs. But getting overwhelmed by an Arena League running back with your season on the line is a cultural problem. Looking confused all year long is deeper than talent. We had four NFL players in the 2022 secondary and it looked just as lost as it did this year.

Has there been any progress? Naturally. Should anyone expect us to build on this progress? That’s a hard sell. The fan base has every reason to be cynical. But none of us are going anywhere, so let’s hope the construction continues and we have enough material to tell lies this summer.