Dolphins Schedule Breakdown: Three Straight Home Games

The Miami Dolphins' last three home games during the 2020 regular season will come on three consecutive Sundays in December when they face the Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots.

The Dolphins are one of 10 teams that will have a three-game home stretch in 2020, along with the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders.

So what does history tells us about three-game home stretches and how it relates to a successful season?

If we take the 2019 NFL season, not much.

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If we look at Dolphins history, it's a good omen.

Let's start with the NFL in 2019 when 10 teams had a three-game stretch. Of those, five went on to make the playoffs, including the two teams that faced off in the NFC Championship Game, San Francisco and Green Bay.

Interestingly, none the three teams that went 3-0 during their three-game home stretch — Cleveland, Oakland (now Las Vegas) and Pittsburgh) went to the playoffs.

Four of the five teams that did go to the playoffs went 2-1 during their three-game homestand, the only exception being Philadelphia, which was 2-1.

No team went 0-3.

Looking at Dolphins history, the franchise has had a three-game home stretch 14 times, though the one in 2007 is excluded here because the middle game against the New York Giants was played in London and Miami was merely the "designated" home team.

There actually were two separate four-game home stretches, including one in 2016 when the Dolphins lost against Tennessee before defeating Pittsburgh, Buffalo and the Jets on the way to a 10-6 finish and a playoff berth.

The Dolphins also had four consecutive home games in 1971 when they went 4-0 against Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Chicago.

Of the 13 seasons that included a three-game home stretch (or four-game stretch), the Dolphins made the playoffs eight times. It happened in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1979, 1992, 2008 and 2016.

Those last two years marked the last two times the Dolphins have made the playoffs.

With the exception of going 0-3 in 1993 to start a five-game season-ending slide that saw the Dolphins go from 9-2 and the best record in the NFL to 9-7 and out of the playoffs, the Dolphins have always won at least two games during their three-game home stretches.

They went 3-0 three times and 2-1 seven times, in addition to the 4-0 and 3-1 records in the seasons with four straight games at home.

The three games during the home stretch this year bring some extremes in terms of opponents, from the defending Super Bowl champions to the team that earned the No. 1 overall pick to a perennial powerhouse that will have a new quarterback for the first time in 20 years.

It could end up being a crucial stretch if the Dolphins to push for a playoff spot or it could be a significant factor in determining draft position for the spring of 2021.

After the three-game home stretch, the Dolphins will close their regular season schedule with road games at Las Vegas and Buffalo.