It was another rough day on the field for the Miami Dolphins, who were completely outmatched by the 49ers, losing 35-13. If it weren’t for a garbage-time touchdown for the Dolphins, this score would have looked much uglier.
The Dolphins are now 0-2 to begin 2026 without a lot looking up in Jeff Hafley’s first season as head coach. The Dolphins will host the Kansas City Chiefs next weekend in the home opener. The Dolphins have a lot to clean up on offense, defense and special teams in order to avoid another blowout loss.
Advertisement
As this inevitable rebuilding season continues for Miami, here are five key takeaways from the Week 2 loss at San Francisco.
The Dolphins offense showed the ability to move the ball effectively early in the game, but they could not finish drives in the end zone. Miami’s first three possessions resulted in field goal attempts, which Riley Patterson made two out of three. The Dolphins ran 28 plays in San Francisco territory in the first half and came away with just 6 points.
The 49ers, on the other hand, scored touchdowns on their first five drives, and did so seamlessly. San Francisco didn’t punt until the fourth quarter, when the score was already 35-6.
Advertisement
The Dolphins’ defense could not get off the field all game until the score was out of reach. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy absolutely dominated, passing for 287 yards and two touchdowns while completing 20-of-22 pass attempts for a 149.1 passer rating. For the second week in a row, the Dolphins could not pressure the quarterback at all as Purdy was not sacked a single time. Purdy also added a rushing touchdown, giving him three total on the day.
The Miami defense forced just two third-down situations on the Niners’ first three possessions as the game continued to fall out of reach. The Niners’ offense finished the day five for seven on third down. Miami’s defense recorded just one tackle for loss all game and didn’t force any turnovers.
After only getting 15 touches in Week 1, the Dolphins prioritized the run game more with De’Von Achane. Achane carried the ball 20 times for a total of 74 yards on the ground and added 19 receiving yards on three catches.
Advertisement
While a 3.7 yards per carry averaged is a much less efficient day than Achane usually puts forth, it was a much more productive day on the ground than last week. Unfortunately, the Dolphins trailed almost the entire game, and the offense couldn’t lean on the run to the best of its abilities.
The Dolphins’ offense struggled to establish consistency in the passing game. Malik Willis once again held onto the football too long and struggled to find open receivers downfield. He was consistently flushed out of the pocket and was sacked four times.
Willis completed just seven passes to wide receivers in this contest, which will have to change quickly if this passing game is to build any momentum. After showing promise in Week 1, rookie wide receiver Caleb Douglas caught just two passes for 19 yards. Chris Bell didn’t record a single reception and had just one target. The Dolphins will need to find a way to get these talented rookies more involved consistently for the offense to put up more than 13 points in a game.
Advertisement
A late-game, garbage-time 77-yard touchdown pass from Willis to Ryan Miller today is the only passing touchdown for the Dolphins in their first two games. The stat sheet would have looked way more underwhelming for Willis if it wasn’t for this late-game touchdown pass while down by 29 points.
It didn’t take long for the issues on special teams to negatively affect the Dolphins as Riley Patterson missed a 51-yard field goal on the opening drive. This shifted momentum right out of the gate as the Niners offense went 59 yards on 12 plays to go up 7-0.
Later in the third quarter, punter Bradley Pinion inexplicably dropped the football on a punt attempt, which set up the 49ers at the Miami 28-yard line. There was no bad snap; Pinion just completely mishandled the football. It took San Francisco just two plays to turn this unforced error into seven points and extend the blowout lead to 35-6.
Advertisement
Missed field goals and unacceptable errors will make winning extremely difficult. Unforced errors like the one by Pinion today are momentum killers for a young team trying to establish a winning identity.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Takeaways from Miami Dolphins’ 35-13 loss to San Francisco 49ers
