EL SEGUNDO — When the Miami Dolphins were in the depths of despair last season, roughly around the time the Chargers rallied to defeat them Oct. 12 to send them to a 1-5 record that would become 1-6 after a loss the following week to the Cleveland Browns, Mike McDaniel came up with a theory.
Read more Dodgers prospect Josue De Paula to fill in for Shohei Ohtani in MLB debut
McDaniel, the Dolphins’ head coach at the time, stressed the importance of playing with conviction over perfection. In the days, weeks and months that followed, the Dolphins rallied behind McDaniel’s words and ended the season by winning six of their final 10 games, finishing 7-10.
It wasn’t enough to save McDaniel’s job, or to stop a flurry of changes to the Dolphins’ roster in the offseason. But the Dolphins’ loss proved to be the Chargers’ gain, when they hired McDaniel in January to replace Greg Roman to become their new offensive coordinator.
Conviction over perfection sounds profound, but what does it mean?
“The phrasing, philosophically, has been tied to what we’ve been trying to describe for years,” McDaniel said Thursday, with his debut as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator set for Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. “Conviction over perfection was a phrase I used to the guys in a desperate, dismal time last season. It seemed like you hit rock bottom.”
OK, but what do the words actually mean?
“If you’re losing, you want to win,” McDaniel continued. “If you’re winning, you want to keep winning. But then you can get wrapped up in the wrong focus, you know? I’m equally proud and embarrassed of the phrasing. It took me way too long to come up with it.”
Right, right, but the meaning, Mike, what does it mean?
McDaniel gave a lengthy, well-thought-out answer because, of course, he did.
Synthesized to its core, the idea is to simply play fast, play hard, play well, staying within the game plan. If you mess up a detail, but still go full speed ahead, there’s a better chance of success than if you nail the detail but are too far behind the play to make something happen, then it’s a failure.
Read more Two years on, Orange County on its way to closing out claims process for Airport fire
“If the end state of your mind is, ‘I want to do well, I want to ball,’ that’s where people fall into problems,” McDaniel explained one more time. “So, the best way I can describe what I truly want from the guys is convicted football over passive football. It’s a physical sport, a game of inches.
“Over time, guys can get worn down by, ‘I messed this up. I busted this.’ They learn that you go get a line and it’s the wrong alignment and you run fast, I can work with that. I can’t work with passive, afraid to fail, and I think our guys are getting there, but each and every day we’ve got to work at it.”
Still confused?
Dolphins tackle Daniel Brunskill put it this way in an interview with a Miami Herald reporter near the end of the 2025 season, “Stop worrying about perfection (because) then you’re playing a little timid, and they rip off a big run. Who cares if you weren’t in the right spot, but you make a tackle for loss? We’re good (with that). Play as fast as you can. If you are not in the right spot, we will go back and correct it. Just play fast. Even if you feel like you don’t know what to do, play fast.
“He’s been preaching that lately.”
McDaniel has been preaching it to the Chargers since his arrival in January.
Sunday, in the season opener, we’ll find out if they’ve bought into it or not.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday compared McDaniel to a young Jim Harbaugh, drawing comparisons to their shared enthusiasm for football. McDaniel on Thursday acknowledged the compliment, but revealed he has a difficult time accepting such a favorable compliment.
“That’s really cool to hear that I get fired up and bring joy to his day,” McDaniel said. “When a person hires you, you don’t want to be just like, ‘Yeah.’ You want them to feel like they feel like they made the right hire, you know? So, it means the world to me. It’s a real compliment, but I also think it’s hilarious because he’s Mr. 6-foot-4 Professional Athlete and I just got done with my job in the IT department.”
Read more Body camera video offers a rare look inside an immigration raid at a NY factory