What's In Store for Final Month, Including Flex Possibilities

The Miami Dolphins are now down to the final quarter of the 2025 regular season and, thanks to their current winning streak, they've managed to make it meaningful — at least at the start of it.

The Dolphins will find themselves tied for ninth in the AFC standings through Week 14, regardless of what happens in the Monday night game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles at SoFi Stadium.

The remainder of the Dolphins schedule includes matchups against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium next Monday night; against the Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 21 in a game originally scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET; against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 28; and against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on the weekend of Jan. 4-5.

THE FLEX POSSIBILITIES AND OTHER SCHEDULING OPTIONS

The game against the Steelers will be the fourth prime-time appearance for the Dolphins this season — following the games against the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, the New York Jets in Week 4 and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9 — but there remains a definite question as to whether it will be the last.

The Bengals remain mathematically alive in the race for the AFC North title, but their loss against Buffalo on Sunday left them with a 4-9 record and needing something like a minor miracle to catch and surpass both the division-leading Steelers and the Ravens.

The Bengals generally are fun to watch because of Joe Burrow and their high-flying offense, but they'll be either 5-9 or 4-10 when they come to Hard Rock Stadium, and it might be hard for the NFL to justify keeping the matchup in prime time.

Another factor to consider is the presence of other better matchups with likely more significance in the playoff picture.

Among the most meaningful matchups in Week 16 — outside of the one game on Thursday night, the two on Saturday and the Monday night matchup — are New England at Baltimore, Tampa Bay at Carolina, and Pittsburgh at Detroit, though the latter will be protected by CBS as its late-afternoon national doubleheader game.

The NFL must decide no later than six days before the Sunday games whether to flex the Week 16 Sunday night game, which will be Dec. 15, the day the Dolphins face the Steelers on Monday Night Football.

At this point, it would be a surprise if the game weren't flexed.

This happened to the Dolphins last season when their Week 17 game against the Cleveland Browns was flexed from prime time to a 4:05 p.m. start.

The other Dolphins' game, whose actual date and time isn't on solid ground, is the finale against the Patriots.

This is a game New England could need to clinch the AFC East title or even the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, and, in a best-case scenario, maybe the Dolphins also could be in a position to secure a playoff spot with a victory at Gillette Stadium.

With that as a background, remember that the NFL has not revealed any date and time for any of the 16 matchups of Week 18, and two will be selected to be played on Saturday and one as the final game of the regular season on Sunday night, such as when the Dolphins played host to the Bills in 2023 in a winner-take-all for the AFC East title.

There are five Week 18 matchups involving two teams with a winning record — Detroit at Chicago, L.A. Chargers at Denver, Carolina at Tampa Bay, Seattle at San Francisco, and Indianapolis at Houston — plus the AFC North matchup between the Steelers and Ravens that could decide the division.

Given those parameters, the likelihood is the Dolphins will play Sunday, Jan. 5, though it could be a 1 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. start.

Take it as a great sign if the Dolphins wind up playing that game on Saturday or Sunday night because the NFL doesn't put teams already out of playoff contention in those spotlight slots.

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