NFL Week 9 losers: Dolphins can’t change the narrative, Bryce Young struggles again

With almost all of the Week 9 games in the NFL complete, it is time to take a look at some of the biggest losers from around the league. 

Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins not only lost Sunday’s game in Germany to the Kansas City Chiefs, they also continued to lose the narrative battle. The big question with this Dolphins team is whether or not they can actually compete with – and beat – the NFL’s top Super Bowl contenders. Or even just regular playoff teams. Over the past two years they have not been able to do that and continued that trend on Sunday. Even worse than the losing is the fact the Dolphins offense becomes alarmingly ordinary every time they play a decent team. That is going to have to change if they want to become a true contender. 

Tyson Bagent, Chicago Bears quarterback: Bagent has been a nice story, going from an undrafted rookie out of a D-II school to starting in NFL games, but we are starting to see why he was an undrafted QB from a D-II school. Bagent turned the ball over four times on Sunday in a 24-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints. He has shown some flashes of potential, but he is probably not the short-term or long-term answer the Bears need.

Bill Belichick, New England Patriots head coach: This is by far the worst season of the Belichick era in New England and it only seems to be getting worse. After Sunday’s loss to the Washington Commanders, the Patriots are now 2-7 and one of the worst teams in the NFL. The most shocking thing about Sunday’s game was New England’s game plan. Despite the fact they were averaging more than six yards per carry and playing a Commanders team that just traded away two starting defensive linemen, they still put the ball into quarterback Mac Jones’ hands and asked him to throw it 45 times. That is not a winning formula given Jones’ lack of progress. 

Clayton Tune, Arizona Cardinals quarterback: You can debate whether or not you want to blame Tune or the bizarre series of events that resulted in him starting against Cleveland, but this was a brutal offensive performance and one of the worst passing efforts any quarterback will have this season. Tune was clearly overmatched against an outstanding Browns defense, leading the Cardinals to just 58 yards of total offense, zero points, multiple turnovers and another loss. 

Bryce Young, quarterback, Carolina Panthers. While No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud is already looking like a franchise-changing quarterback, Young, the No. 1 overall pick, is not exactly looking the part for the Panthers. That has to be concerning not only because of where the Panthers picked him, but also given the price they paid to get him. Right now the Panthers have the second-worst record in the league and are in position to give the No. 2 overall pick to the Chicago Bears as a result of their trade to  move up and select Young. He has not really shown any progress this season and threw two pick-sixes on Sunday – three interceptions total – in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Both of them went to the same player. One of them on a screen pass.