2009 Miami Dolphins season

[1] The Dolphins entered the 2009 season as the reigning AFC East champions after posting an 11–5 record in 2008.

Dropping by four more games, the Dolphins failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007, marking the 25th consecutive year that the region hosting the Super Bowl did not see its host team play in, thus it set off a playoff drought that lasted until 2016[2] (not counting years where Super Bowls have been played on neutral sites).

at Land Shark Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida After a miserable loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the Dolphins host their home opener to the Indianapolis Colts.

On the first play from scrimmage, Peyton Manning threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Clark.

The Dolphins and Colts kept going back and forth at each other with two field goals by Dan Carpenter and Adam Vinatieri to make the score 13–13 at halftime.

The Dolphins tried to rally at the end of the game but Chad Pennington was intercepted by Antoine Bethea to secure the Colts' victory.

After a scoreless first quarter, Nate Kaeding hit a 25-yard field goal to score the first points of the game.

The Chargers pulled away in the fourth quarter with two Nate Kaeding field goals and a 31-yard interception return by safety Eric Weddle.

Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington left the game with a shoulder injury after being hit by linebacker Kevin Burnett and was out for the season.

at Land Shark Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida Ronnie Brown ran in for the winning touchdown with just seconds left to send the Dolphins into their bye week at 2–3.

at Land Shark Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida The final outcome of this game had somewhat of a domino effect.

It resulted in the Dolphins' elimination from the post-season (including Super Bowl XLIV, which they hosted February 8, 2010), and also, by virtue of the final standings' tiebreaker (as the result of the Baltimore Ravens defeating the Oakland Raiders), the Steelers themselves being dethroned of their world title defense.