Degree of Difficulty Ramping Up for Dolphins

If the Miami Dolphins are going to make a return to the playoffs in 2020, they will have to earn it.

The Dolphins currently hold the sixth position in the AFC standings with their 8-4 record, but they also face the toughest remaining schedule in the entire league, according to tankathon.com.

The Dolphins' four remaining opponents — Kansas City (11-1), New England (6-6), Las Vegas (7-5) and Buffalo (9-3) — have a combined record of 33-15 for a winning percentage of .688.

That's the highest for any team in the league with the New York Jets second at .646 and Detroit third at .625.

Those are the only teams in the NFL who don't have a game left against a team that currently has a losing record.

The Dolphins are one of nine teams in the AFC currently with a winning record and at least two of them will be left out of the playoffs.

Excluding the Chiefs, who already have locked up a playoff berth, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are practically a lock despite losing against Washington on Monday night, that would leave seven teams competing for five slots — with New England having an outside shot.

Of the four teams competing with the Dolphins, Baltimore (6-5) have the easiest remaining schedule with an opponent winning percentage of .347; Tennessee (8-4) has the 29th-toughest schedule (.396); Cleveland (9-3) the 22nd-toughest (.468); Indianapolis the 20th-toughest (.479) and Buffalo (9-3) the fourth-toughest (.604).

This "fourth quarter" of the season for the Dolphins is quite the reversal from the just-completed third quarter when they faced four teams with a current combined winning record of 9-38-1. The Dolphins, of course, went 3-1 in that stretch, defeating the Chargers (3-9), Jets (0-12) and Bengals (2-9-1) and losing to the Denver Broncos (4-8).

The Dolphins are 1-2 this season against teams that currently have a winning record, defeating the Rams and losing against Buffalo and Seattle. They're 1-1 against teams currently at .500, winning at Arizona after losing at New England. They 6-1 against teams who currently have a losing record, the only loss coming at Denver.

As they say, though, they play the schedule as it comes up. The Dolphins took care of their business up to this point, which is why now they're in a position to earn a playoff berth if they can have some success despite their challenging remaining schedule.

“We try to take things one day at a time," head coach Brian Flores said. "I think that’s the only way to approach it. We’re in a position where we get to play some meaningful games and that’s good, but in order to take advantage of them, we can’t be thinking three, four, five weeks ahead. You’ve got to focus on today, focus on this week, focus on this team. We’ve got plenty to focus on with the Kansas City Chiefs."