MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — At some point soon, Dolphins owner Steve Ross must respond to the fans. Ross, who has owned this franchise since 2009, doesn’t need to speak to the fans. Ross needs to listen to the fans.

Dolphins fans are angry, livid, incensed. They’re fed up with the constant mediocrity and disappointment. I’ve never seen fan hostility at this level.

Eventually, most likely at season’s end, Ross must show contrition to Dolphins fans worldwide and acknowledge he’s created a mess. Just as importantly, Ross must also show Dolphins fans he cares. He must show fans, which is more important than telling them, that he loves the Dolphins more than F1 auto racing or world-class tennis, both of which he hosts at Hard Rock Stadium.

Ross can show fans he cares about the Dolphins by making a series of good moves to get this franchise back on track. It’s too early right now, three games into the 2025 season, to say exactly what the moves must entail.

But most likely at season’s end Ross will be searching for a new general manager (replacing Chris Grier), a new head coach (replacing Mike McDaniel), a new star wide receiver (replacing Tyreek Hill) and possibly a new quarterback (replacing Tua Tagovailoa).

Ross must show fans he can make good hires.

Understand this: I like Ross. I’ve always said Ross is a good owner. I’ve always maintained Ross does the two things you want from an owner: he allows football people to make football decisions and he opens his wallet.

But I’d get strong push-back from fans. They’d insist Ross makes bad hires, particularly at general manager. The fan push-back is starting to make sense to me, it’s starting to resonate.

Ross, I’m starting to be convinced by fans, through his bad hires, is creating an absolute disaster of this once-proud franchise.

This isn’t simply about the Dolphins stumbling to an 0-3 start to this season. It’s also about the Dolphins putting together a costly, veteran-laden, high-profile “win now” team that included wide receiver Tyreek Hill, left tackle Terron Armstead, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, outside linebacker Bradley Chubb and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, among others, and didn’t even win a playoff game.

It’s about failed executive hires such as Mike Tannenbaum, Dennis Hickey and Chris Grier. It’s about failed head coaches such as Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel. It’s about meddling with Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton and Tom Brady over the years. Getting fined. Being suspended. Losing draft picks.

It’s all starting to add up, and fans are irate. They want Grier fired. They want McDaniel fired. And a growing contingent of fans are fed up with Tua.

The McDaniel-Tua animosity represents an amazing turn of events, and I’m not sure Ross fully grasps the depth of fan frustration.

McDaniel and Tua are two of the most untouchable South Florida sports figures in recent memory, the most sacred of the sacred cows. I’ve been covering South Florida sports 1997. Everybody has gotten more grief than McDaniel and Tua — Pat Riley, Jimmy Johnson, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James.

But since that disastrous season-opening 33-8 loss at Indianapolis, things are different.

The Colts loss has been a clear line of delineation. Sentiment changed after that loss because the Dolphins appeared so unprepared and disinterested. Tua looked bad. McDaniel looked bad. The offense was bad. The defense was bad. Special teams were bad.

Yeah, things are bad in Dolphinsland. And I’m starting to side with the fans about this ridiculous state of affairs.

Dolphins fans give their heart and time to this franchise. They spend their hard-earned money on tickets and merchandise. They feel they’ve been duped and defrauded by a string of questionable decisions from an owner whose lack of playoff success is overshadowed greatly by millions in annual profits.

Fans feel Ross only cares about money, F1 and tennis. Fans don’t think Ross feels the same level of pain that they feel when watching the Dolphins.

There’s an old saying in journalism circles — show me, don’t tell me. In other words, show me Tyreek Hill is fast, don’t tell me he’s fast.

Ross, in some fashion, sometime soon, must show Dolphins fans he cares as much as them about this franchise and this team.

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