For years now I've compared an NFL season to a roller coaster.
And if you think about it, there really isn't a more perfect, more accurate analogy.
You go up and down; sideways and upside down. You go fast at times. You slow down once in a while. And you hit bumps along the way.
You laugh, scream, shout and cry all in the span of three minutes, and sometimes, all at one time.
You reach the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and everything in between. All of this in one ride.
Now, I've never been much of a roller coaster guy. In-fact, it's probably been close to a decade since I've even been on one. But there is one part about the entire experience that I do remember, and it's the part that I hated the most. The part that turned my stomach.
The part that I had buried deep down within me, strategically placed so the memory, and the feeling that it gave me, wouldn't resurface.
Unfortunately, when the Sun Life Stadium clock hit all zero's on Sunday, and the dark possibility of a three game losing streak became a grim reality, the Miami Dolphins season had officially reached that part.
The very top of the roller coaster. The part where you're teetering on the edge, stopped for just a moment, forced to look back at where you've came from, and to look down at where you're about to go.
At 3-3, the Miami Dolphins have reached this point in their roller coaster of a season.
And it was bound to happen. It happens to every team. The difference is WHEN it happens. For example, the Kansas City Chiefs haven't reached this part yet. Neither have the Colts, or the Saints, or even the Patriots.
But teams like Miami, Chicago, and Baltimore are all there right now. All at the point where it's time to make a decision about where they're going to go, and how they're going to get there.
It's gut check time.
This is especially true for the Miami Dolphins, just look at their schedule. In the next nine days they'll travel to New England, where they haven't won since the infamous 2008 Wildcat game, and then come back home to host the Bengals on Halloween night, just three days later.
It doesn't have to be Halloween for that to look terrifying.
What's even scarier is the state of this once unbeaten team right now.
They haven't won a game in a month. Their quarterback is a sitting duck behind the NFL's worst offensive line. Not to mention that he's got seven turnovers in the last three games.
They have no starting running back, Cameron Wake hasn't been healthy since September, and their offensive coordinator's play calls have been just that: Offensive.
And now, coming off a game in which they couldn't beat a guy named Thad Lewis, they get to go play a guy named Tom Brady.
Somebody they haven't beaten since 2009.
This roller coaster is about to take off in Miami. With 10 games still to go, that may seem a bit premature, but a three game losing streak has a way of speeding things up.
These next nine days will truly show us what kind of men these Miami Dolphins are. As Ryan Tannehill said, they can either tank it, or face adversity.
Real men, real football teams face adversity.
It's the frauds and the pretenders who run from it.
Right now, this season is teetering for the beaten and battered Miami Dolphins.
It's time for a good old fashion gut check.
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