The Miami Dolphins wanted to put to bed the narrative that cold weather games were their weakness.
Unfortunately, they were not able to do that after losing to the Green Bay Packers in frigid temps on Thanksgiving Day. In the lead up to Thursday night’s game, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said he believed it all came down to “mindset.”
Tua Tagovailoa, #1 of the Miami Dolphins, warms up prior to a game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Nov. 28, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
“We’re obviously nowhere near the temperatures where all these other cold teams play at being in Miami, where it’s 80,” he said this week. “Sometimes it gets down to 50, but it just gets nowhere near the teams that make it in long stretches. To me it’s just a mindset, that’s really all it is.”
However, there appeared to be at least one stark difference in the way each team approached their pre-game warmups.
In a video shared on social media, several Packers players were seen warming up in T-shirts and shorts before the game. Meanwhile, that same video captured several Miami players bundled up in sweats and hats warming up on the field.
The Dolphins have now lost their last 12 regular season or postseason games in which the temperature at kickoff was 40 degrees or lower. Thursday was no different, with a temperature of 27 degrees, with 10 mph winds and a wind chill of 18 degrees.
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel paces the sideline during a game against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers won the game, 30-17. (Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
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It follows the Dolphins’ brutal loss in the wild-card round last season. Miami suffered a 26-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead stadium where it was minus 4 degrees at kickoff with a wind chill of minus-27.
Miami’s last win when temps at kickoff were below 40 degrees was in 2016 against the Buffalo Bills.
However, Tagovailoa refused to give into the narrative despite Thursday’s loss.
Jeff Kahlow, center, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, watches players warm up before an NFL football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Miami Dolphins on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
“I would say, from my standpoint and our team’s standpoint, we’re not going to use any of that as an excuse for why we didn’t get the start that we wanted.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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