Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

Steelers vs Dolphins Week 15 Monday Night Football Result and Key Takeaways – Second Half Offensive Explosion Powers Pittsburgh Win

Dolphins eliminated from the playoffs after Week 15 loss to the Steelers!

Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins left the warmth of Florida to make the trip up north to Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Week 15 Monday Night Football (MNF) clash.

The cold was always going to be a factor for the Dolphins, and more so for their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, whose record in such games hasn’t been great.

Miami came into the game on a 4-game win streak and with a 6-7 record with an outside chance of making the playoffs, but the doors closed on that after their 28-15 loss. The Steelers came in with a 7-6 record and retained their one-game lead over the Ravens following their Week 15 win at home.

The Steelers knock off the Dolphins on MNF 🔥

They now have a one-game lead on the Ravens in the AFC North 🍿 pic.twitter.com/sTF3rgv9lN
— ESPN (@espn) December 16, 2025

Low Scoring First Half Dominated by Defense

The MNF matchup between the Steelers and the Dolphins got off to a slow start, with the first six drives of the game ending without any points. Both defenses were on top, with the Steelers coming up with an interception to kill off one of the better Dolphins’ drives. On the other side, Miami sacked Aaron Rodgers twice to end drives for the Steelers.

Miami struck first in their fourth drive as a field goal finally put 3 points on the board. With under 20 seconds to go in the first half, Connor Heyward gave the Steelers the lead following a 1-yard touchdown run as Pittsburgh went into the break with a 7-3 lead.

Steelers Get Going Offensively in the Second Half

Coming out of halftime, the Steelers’ offense switched gears and scored three consecutive touchdowns to open up a huge 28-3 lead just inside the start of the fourth quarter.

A good mix of runs and pass plays ended long 60 and 70-yard-plus drives with Rodgers throwing for 2 touchdowns and tight end Jonnu Smith adding the third one on the ground.

Steelers now have won 23 consecutive home games on Monday Night Football.

The last time the Steelers lost a home game on Monday Night Football was to the New York Giants on October 14, 1991. pic.twitter.com/hkFrMwfcZw
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 16, 2025

Dolphins Mount Comeback in the Fourth Quarter

After doing absolutely nothing on offense for the first three quarters, Miami suddenly found a higher gear in the final quarter of the game. With the Steelers taking a 28-3 lead, the Dolphins were able to cap off two consecutive drives with touchdowns, but failed to convert the 2-point play on both occasions.

Nevertheless, Tagovailoa, who had just 61 passing yards from 5 of 8 passes at halftime, made a couple of exciting throws and took the checkdowns whenever possible to try and get his team back into the game. The Dolphins’ signal caller eventually finished the game with 22 completions from 28 attempts for 253 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Unfortunately for the Dolphins, it was too little too late, and Miami ended up on the losing side of this one. Tight end Darren Waller was the most impressive player in the fourth quarter, hauling in both of the Dolphins’ touchdown passes.

Steelers vs Dolphins Monday Night Football Game Stats

Aaron Rodgers had a decent game against the Dolphins, finishing with 23 completions from 27 attempts for 224 yards and a couple of touchdowns, while Kenneth Gainwell contributed with 80 yards rushing and 46 yards receiving.

For Miami, running back De’Von Achane finished with 12 carries for 60 yards and also hauled in 6 catches for another 68 yards to lead the offense.

With their loss tonight, the Dolphins have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Miami has not won a playoff game since 2000. pic.twitter.com/q41yzNAqBv
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 16, 2025

The table below shows the key team stats from the Steelers vs Dolphins Monday Night game.

Pittsburgh Steelers	Category	Miami Dolphins
336	Total yards	285
201	Passing yards	222
135	Rushing yards	63
3	Sacks allowed	4
5	Punts	4
4(25)	Penalties (yards)	6(31)
0	Fumbles lost	0
0	Interceptions	1

With the loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football, the Dolphins are officially out of the postseason this year and have fallen to 6-8 on the season.

Pittsburgh is now 8-6 and holds a one-game advantage over Baltimore in the AFC North, which is crucial as both teams will end up facing each other in the final game of the regular season, and the winner could decide who wins the division.

Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

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Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!