Yikes.

How else would you react to the Dolphins' special teams on Monday night? Players called it embarrassing, South Beach is in panic mode, and head coach Tony Sparano fired special-teams coach John Bonamego.

In their 41-14 loss to the Patriots at home in front of a national audience, the Dolphins gave up a kickoff-return TD, a field-goal block that was returned for a TD and a punt block. The punt block led to a Patriots TD three plays later, meaning special teams accounted for 21 Patriots points.

Take away those 21 points and Chad Henne's three interceptions (two in Patriots territory and one that was returned for a TD) and the Dolphins win the game. But breakdowns were contagious on Monday night, and problems snowballed in the second half. As a matter of fact, as Sparano reminded reporters on Tuesday, the Dolphins were down only 20-14 midway through the third quarter.

Simply put, the Dolphins' special-teams unit cost them the game. When asked after the game whether the special-teams breakdowns were because of coaching or execution, Sparano responded: "Next question."

With his firing of Bonamego, he likely knew at that moment that the issues stemmed from schemes, but the personnel decisions the Dolphins have made leading up to the 2010 season should not be ignored when taking special-teams play into account.

The PFW spin

Something had to happen after such a dismal performance. The Dolphins had to do something, but was firing Bonamego the answer? The Palm Beach Post calculated the number of roster additions for all 32 NFL teams since Sept. 5, and the Dolphins lead the league with 16 additions — most of those being bottom-of-the-roster guys looking to factor in on special teams.