Yet another brief and unsatisfying Miami Dolphins era ended Tuesday, not on the failed playing field of the night before but in a meeting room where coach Mike McDaniel said quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is likely benched for the final three games of the season.

“Everything is on the table,” McDaniel said.

The immediate question looks like whether veteran Zach Wilson or seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers starts against the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday. The larger, looming question is who follows Tua out the door this season now that it’s been opened to him.

McDaniel?

Interim general manager Champ Kelly?

Or do they stay as is? Because Tuesday wasn’t just a decision involving the quarterback. It’s bigger than that. It’s not even clear this was McDaniel’s decision alone, considering the implications of the position and Tua’s massive contract.

This isn’t a decision Tua returns from here, though. No sir. The Dolphins can’t bench their failing, franchise quarterback and make plans to keep him for next year unless they’re more lost than they appeared in Monday night’s 28-15 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

To summarize Tagovailoa’s six Dolphins seasons: Former coach Brian Flores wasn’t exactly right in fiercely doubting him at the start, but he was more right than McDaniel for pounding the table to get him a franchise-harming contract.

The problem, and it’s been the problem all along, is that such big decisions in any franchise that isn’t defective or toxically malfunctioning aren’t left to first-time head coaches to make. That’s what happened here too much with Flores and McDaniel.

There needed to be a seasoned, front-office professional who has some larger vision in mind. That vision, of course, would start with not taking a small, slow, weak-armed and health hazard quarterback like Tagovailoa with the fifth pick in 2020 over the bigger, stronger, more durable Justin Herbert.

That’s old news by now, just as it is former general manager Chris Grier didn’t have the vision or ability to lead a franchise. That’s who failed in the quarterback decision more than Flores or McDaniel. McDaniel was asked to show everyone who Tua was when he arrived.

He did that. Is it McDaniel’s fault Grier, team owner Steve Ross and others granted the coach’s wish to give Tua a massive contract? Shouldn’t one of them have tuned out a newbie head coach and protected the franchise?

That’s what this next moment is about, even as everyone argues over Wilson or Ewers for Sunday: Who’s in charge now?

Ross has to decide what’s next. He hasn’t been good with football decisions. He now has to find someone to lift this franchise out of a quarter-century of mental pollution and break the repetitive dreariness of this moment.

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Is Kelly capable of that?

Has McDaniel learned enough over four seasons to keep him?

Or does Ross decide to go out and hire the best personnel mind he can find? It’s easier to find such a person now that the quarterback is going out the door.

It’s not Tua’s fault he couldn’t grow into the big hopes for him. His limitations were on display again Monday, from a lack of arm and judgment on his first-quarter interception to his sliding short on a third-and-2 run to his having just 60 yards passing in the opening three quarters that decided the game.

“My expectation was we’d have a better performance,” McDaniel said.

You could cut and paste that quote across most Sundays this season. Asked if he expected a new quarterback to be on the shopping list for next season, McDaniel said, “It would be insulting to the 2025 Dolphins to have my mind wander” to that subject.

He’s right. So is the idea a new quarterback is the prime need again. The Dolphins will be looking up at Buffalo with Josh Allen and New England with Drake Maye unless they find one close to their levels.

That’s 60% of a general manager’s job in today’s NFL. The job is compounded for the Dolphins right now by Tua’s contract staying even as he heads to the exit. Tagovailoa is a $53 million salary-cap hit, regardless of whether he’s on the team.

If cut before June 1, he’s $99 million of dead money on the cap. If designated as a post-June 1 cut, it’s a $67 million hit in 2026 and $32 million hit in 2027 (via overthecap.com).

The road map out of this was provided by Denver coach Sean Payton. He cut veteran Russell Wilson at a cost of $39 million two years ago and another dead-cap hit of $33 million this season.

Denver isn’t 12-2 this season and the No. 1 seed in the AFC just because of the Wilson move. That’s because Payton drafted quarterback Bo Nix in 2024 and build a winning team around him. It’s not easy, as the Dolphins keep showing. But that’s how it’s done.

As it is, this is the official end of the Tank-for-Tua Era. It went nowhere starting from that 2020 draft. Every other quarterback taken that draft has provided hope and good-to-great quarterback play for their team.

No. 1 pick Joe Burrow took Cincinnati to a Super Bowl. Herbert is the leader of a Chargers team that regularly makes the playoffs. No. 26 pick Jordan Love has Green Bay on a winning trajectory. Second-round pick Jalen Hurts won the Super Bowl last season.

Then there’s the Dolphins. Another era ended Tuesday. Who leads the next one is this offseason’s first question.