Miami Dolphins have already experienced some massive playoff heartbreak
We just witnessed the Atlanta Falcons blow the largest lead in Super Bowl history as the New England Patriots claimed another championship, defeating the Falcons, 34-28. While no NFL franchise has experienced a letdown quite like this before, let’s take a look back at one of the more heart-breaking games in Miami Dolphins playoff history.
The date was January 8, 1995 and the Dolphins were in San Diego for a Divisional Round Playoff game against the Chargers. Miami knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs a week prior in a Wild Card matchup, 27-17, and enjoyed a 21-6 lead in San Diego after three first-half touchdown passes from future Hall of Famer, Dan Marino.
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Just a year before, Marino missed the majority of the season after suffering an Achilles tendon injury week five against the Cleveland Browns. However, Marino bounced back in 1994 – earning NFL Comeback Player of the Year – finishing the season with 4,453 passing yards and 30 touchdowns, leading Miami to a 10-6 regular-season record.
Unfortunately for the Miami Dolphins, Marino and the rest of the offense failed to score in the second half of the Divisional-round game against the San Diego as quarterback Stan Humphries led the Chargers to a 22-21 comeback win.
The second half started with San Diego failing to score on a fourth and one from the Dolphins’ one-yard line; however, on the very next play, the Chargers stuffed Bernie Parmalee behind the line of scrimmage for a safety, bringing the score to 21-8.
Following the safety kick, San Diego took advantage of a short field and closed the gap to six points after a 24-yard Natrone Means’ touchdown run. The score remained 21-15 until the final minutes of the game as San Diego took a one-point lead courtesy of an eight-yard touchdown pass from Humphries to Mark Seay.
Despite not completing a pass on the final possession, the Dolphins were able to get into field-goal range for kicker Pete Stoyanovich, thanks to a pass interference call that netted 32 yards, and set Stoyanovich up for a game-winning 48-yard field goal.
Stoyanovich, who went 8-of-10 from 40-49 yards that season, broke the hearts of thousands of Dolphins’ fans as he missed the kick and ended Marino’s best chance of returning to a Super Bowl.
As we all know, Marino never did make it back to the big game after falling to the San Francisco 49ers in his second year in the NFL, and the Dolphins have only been to the Divisional Round three times since the 1994 season and are 0-3 in those games.
While the loss to the Chargers isn’t quite as heartbreaking as what recently happened to the Falcons, it’s definitely one of the worst memories Dolphins’ fans of a certain age have to this day.
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