Philbin family, Miami Dolphins need each other now more than ever

BOSTON-- Joe Philbin stumbled his way through the question that sends chills down the backs of parents worldwide. With GM Jeff Ireland sitting on his right and a camera positioned directly in front of him, Philbin had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, nowhere to look but down.

"Obviously it's been a heartbreaking experience for all of us," Philbin said in response to his family's coping with the loss of their 21 year old son Michael just two weeks ago. "It's certainly not over, today I had to go look at the bio for myself in the media guide and there's my son's name in there, and ya know, how am I going to write that in my media guide?"

"I was in the office by myself and it was very, very difficult."

"Very difficult" is the lightest, most mild way of putting what Philbin and his family have been through over the last two weeks.

But then again, "very difficult" may have been the only words he could get out.

Visibly, Philbin is a broken man. The emotional toll of the last fourteen days has been the equivalent of the toll some people experience in a full year. Philbin lost his son, Michael, on January 9th from an apparent drowning accident in a Wisconsin river. Just six days later Philbin was on the Packers' sidelines for the NFC Divisional game against the Giants, a game in which they lost 37-20.

With his son gone, and his team given an early playoff exit, Joe Philbin was seemingly down and out.

"I came home Sunday night and really the TV hadn't been on in our house for a week. The Miami Dolphins maybe have hired a coach, I had no idea.  I walked down and I was talking to my son, Tim, and I saw he was kind of dejected and he asked me, ‘Dad what are the Miami Dolphins doing?' And I said I have no idea what they're doing. 'You're going to go after the job aren't you?' I said I don't know what I'm going to do. I was dejected on a lot of different fronts. He looked at me and said, ‘You better go after that job...

Your son, Mike, would want you to go after that job."

Just five days after that conversation, Philbin was on a plane, sent by owner Stephen Ross, to Miami, preparing his introductory speech at his first press conference as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

The Philbin family had been given a fresh start, one they desperately needed.

And what team to better take a fresh start with than the one that resides in South Florida? The one that hasn't won a playoff game in over a decade.

The one that hasn't won a Super Bowl in nearly four of them.

As badly as Joe Philbin needed the Miami Dolphins, the Dolphins may have needed Joe Philbin even more.

You see, football is more than just wins and losses, who's in first, and who's the best. Football is about new opportunities, second chances, and leaps of faith. Joe Philbin may not be the flashiest head coach ever, he may not have the most experience, and his name certainly isn't Jeff Fisher.

But sometimes, in football, none of those things matter.

Sometimes, the only thing that matters is a second chance, a fresh start, and a new beginning.

And for both Philbin and the Dolphins, those three things are what they need now more than ever.

Whether it be the loss of loved one, or the loss of a once premiere franchise, Joe Philbin and the Miami Dolphins found each other in their darkest hour.  With the Philbin family losing one of their own, and the Dolphins losing coveted coach Jeff Fisher to the St. Louis Rams, both parties had been knocked down, with two very different situations mind you, but knocked down nonetheless.

The Miami Dolphins took a chance on Joe Philbin, but a chance very much worth taking.  They've given the family a reason for hope, a reason for optimism, and the opportunity to recover.

Like I said, both parties have been knocked down in two very different ways over the last two weeks.

But both seem ready to help each other get back up.