The narratives in the NFL are changing as quickly as the winter winds in the league’s Northeast stadiums.

But it’s not Mother Nature that dictates these narrative shifts, it’s the quarterbacks.

Over the past two seasons, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has been praised as a brilliant and creative offensive mind and a coach who doesn’t always follow the traditional NFL head coaching playbook.

In his first season, McDaniel led the 2022 Dolphins to their first playoff berth since 2016 and just their second since 2009. Last season, he led the Dolphins to an 11-6 record and another playoff berth. He was widely regarded as one of the industry’s great, bright young minds.

The common denominator in these two successful seasons was that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played well and stayed healthy. Tagovailoa started 13 games in 2022 and went 8-5, starting all 17 games last season.

Then Tagovailoa suffered his fourth known concussion in a loss to the Bills in Week 2, which will sideline him indefinitely. His replacement, Skylar Thompson, suffered a rib injury in the Week 3 loss to Seattle, leaving recently signed Tyler Huntley as the Dolphins’ starter.

Huntley failed to throw for 100 yards in last week’s loss to the Titans, leaving the Dolphins in last place in the AFC East entering Sunday’s game at New England, 1-3.

McDaniel and the Dolphins’ management deserve criticism for not acquiring backup Mike White, who has proven to be a reliable No. 2 option. The Dolphins decided to save some money by not keeping White, who signed with the Bills, and now they’re being criticized for it.

This mess at quarterback has left McDaniel in turmoil, who was quickly removed from the mantel as a darling among NFL coaches. The mess in Miami just underscores this about NFL coaches: If they don’t have a good quarterback, they don’t have a chance.

Not even the Dolphins’ top receiver tandem, Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle, could pull their offense out of the malaise.

Look at what happened to Brian Daboll and the Giants a year ago. Daboll was named the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year and his job security was in question with starter Daniel Jones out for the season and undrafted free agent Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito in the starting lineup.

Look at Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. With starting quarterback Joe Burrow healthy, the Bengals went 10-7, reached the Super Bowl in 2021 and went 12-4 and reached the AFC title game in 2022.

Consequences of Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion

Then, when Burrow missed the final seven games last year, the Bengals slumped to 9-8 and missed the playoffs. Suddenly, Taylor’s abilities as a head coach were being questioned in some circles.

Jets coach Robert Saleh didn’t have a competent starting quarterback on his team in his first three seasons, and the poor results showed. Part of that was his fault, as he was part of the draft selection that took Zach Wilson second overall in 2021.

Now Saleh has Aaron Rodgers, and we’ll really find out what his abilities are as a head coach.

What kind of head coach was Bill Belichick when Tom Brady left for Tampa Bay? He went 29-38 in four seasons without the GOAT before parting ways with New England – saving his reputation as the greatest coach of all time from loss.

I believe McDaniel is the good head coach we thought he was when Tagovailoa was healthy, with his unique, outside-the-box methods to his madness.

Here’s hoping McDaniel gets his quarterback back in time to save the Dolphins’ season. Without a quarterback, no coach is anything other than just another coach waiting to be fired.