As Miami Dolphins season winds down, biggest challenges still to come

VERO BEACH-- How close are these Miami Dolphins to becoming a playoff contender?  Well...

Ask me again in two weeks.

Ask me again after the dust settles on this 2011 season, and especially after a two game stretch that could either provide more answers, or raise more questions about the direction of this once elite organization.

Oh yes, the biggest challenges are still to come for the Miami Dolphins.

Starting this week with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and ending on New Year's day when Rex Ryan and "Gang Green" come rolling into Sun Life Stadium, these final two games for the Miami Dolphins will test this resilient bunch more than the first 14 did combined.

Not only will owner Stephen Ross be watching both games with a magnifying glass, but more importantly so will those "star" head coaches that Ross hopes to bring to Miami in the coming months.  You better believe that coaches like, say, Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, Jeff Fisher, and Brian Billick will be watching on Saturday when the Dolphins take on the Patriots in Foxborough, and if you don't think they are, then you're sorely, sorely mistaken.

You see, in the NFL when you're in the position the Dolphins are in, an underacheiving team openly pursuing a big name head coach, the roles become a bit reversed.  Guys like Cowher and Gruden don't have to interview for the head coaching position, rather, the Dolphins have to interview for the landing spot of those head coaches.  All four of the guys I mentioned earlier have already proven that they can win in this league, the Dolphins however, have not.

But that could change in the coming weeks.

If Miami goes into New England and upsets Tom Brady and company, followed by a third straight win in the season finale against the Jets, finishing 4-2 in the division this year and 7-2 in the second half, then that head coaching position becomes a bit more enticing, doesn't it?

However, those are big, BIG, ifs.

Unlike the Dolphins, both teams are in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt.  With the Patriots looking to clinch home field advantage, and the Jets just looking to get into the tournament, the Dolphins have a large, scratch that, enormous task in front of them.

But that may be what it takes to reel in a big name head coach, because let's be honest folks, right now the Dolphins aren't that enticing.  Right now they're a 5-9 team coming off a victory over the the lowly Buffalo Bills, and with only one win against a team with a winning record, the Oakland Raiders, this season.

However, wins against the Patriots and the Jets to close out the season may be enough to inspire a Jeff Fisher or a Brian Billick to come back to coaching, because wins like that inspire something much larger, much more powerful than a head coach...

Wins like that inspire hope.

And if the Dolphins win those final two games, and again that's a huge if, then we may have something special brewing here in Miami.  We may have hope.