MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Super Bowl had good news for the Miami Dolphins — this was the second consecutive season that a non-Hall of Fame quarterback won the title. On Sunday, defense and run game won the Super Bowl. That confirms there’s more than one way to win in the NFL.

I trust that Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley got the message.

We can all agree that there are a few ways to interpret the Seattle Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

There’s always a Super Bowl lesson for the Dolphins whether it’s from last year or the year before that or the year before that. The lesson could be about your team’s GM.

To me, the biggest offshoot from Sunday is that Seattle’s win should ease the pressure on the Dolphins to find a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback this year or even next year.

The pressure should be on finding a quarterback who can lead you on a path to improvement. Sometimes defense and special teams can take care of the rest. The Dolphins seemed to get that message during their coaching search. Perhaps it’ll carry through.

Consider what we’ve seen in the past two Super Bowls. On Sunday, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold was under center as the Seahawks won the crown this year.

Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts was the quarterback last year when the Eagles dismantled the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, in the Super Bowl.

But defense, not strong quarterback play, has won the past two Super Bowls.

And defense has played a bigger role for the league’s top teams in each of the past two seasons.

Are we seeing the start of a trend?

Perhaps.

Here’s what we know from the past two seasons — you don’t need a Hall of Fame-level, Tom Brady- or Patrick Mahomes-type quarterback to win a Super Bowl.

In fact, some of the league’s best quarterbacks (Mahomes, Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow) missed the playoffs in 2025.

The NFL remains a quarterback-first league, make no mistake.

Life is much easier when you have an elite quarterback.

What we’re seeing now, however, is that teams can have big one-year or two-year turnarounds with a less-than-elite quarterback just as teams such as Seattle and Philadelphia can win a Super Bowl with a less-than-elite QB.

You want some names of the non-elite quarterbacks scheduled to become free agents on March 11 (all won’t actually hit free agency)? Green Bay Packers’ Malik Willis. Indianapolis Colts Daniel Jones. Russell Wilson of the New York Giants. Pittsburgh Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers. Washington Commanders’ Marcus Mariota. Jimmy Garoppolo of the Los Angeles Rams. Trey Lance of the Los Angeles Chargers. Baltimore’s Tyler “Snoop” Huntley. Buffalo Bills’ Mitchell Trubisky. Miami’s Zach Wilson. Las Vegas Raiders’ Kenny Pickett.

You want some names of non-elite quarterbacks the Dolphins could draft in the first three rounds in April (this could change after the NFL scouting combine and pro days)? Alabama’s Ty Simpson. LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier. Miami’s Carson Beck. Penn State’s Drew Allar.

It’s not a pretty picture.

But it’s not a hopeless picture.

Quarterback play was suspect throughout these playoffs.

Darnold was good, not great. He ended with five touchdowns, no interceptions and a 102.4 passer rating despite completing just 61.5% of his passes (56 of 91).

How was New England’s Drake Maye, the regular-season MVP runner-up, in these playoffs? He finished with six touchdowns, four interceptions, seven fumbles and an 82.2 passer rating.

Matthew Stafford of the Rams, the league MVP? He finished the playoffs with six touchdowns, one interception and a 94.4 passer rating while completing just 55.5% of his passes, a number that wouldn’t have ranked him in the top 50 for the regular season.

Want more? Buffalo’s Josh Allen had four touchdowns, two interceptions and a 99.8 passer rating to go along with three fumbles. He had four turnovers (two interceptions, two lost fumbles) in Buffalo’s 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos.

Denver’s Bo Nix had three touchdowns, one interception and an 87.1 passer rating while completing 56.5% of his passes in the playoffs.

Much to the dismay of NFL marketing, you can make the playoffs, advance in the playoffs and win a Super Bowl even if you don’t have a Hall of fame-caliber quarterback.

Sullivan and Hafley can start their rebuild from any position they’d like. The key is not forcing themselves to fall in love with a quarterback they merely like instead of a QB they love.

If Sullivan and Hafley have conviction about a quarterback, perhaps Willis, then OK, make a move.

They shouldn’t, however, make a two- or three-year commitment to someone just because they think they must find a long-term answer at quarterback this year.

Again, the recent trend shows you don’t need an elite-level quarterback to win a Super Bowl or make a big turnaround.

This is the Dolphins-specific takeaway from this year’s Super Bowl and the past two seasons. We’ll see if they’ve received the message.

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MIAMI – The low point of this Miami Heat season?

Welcome to it, when Erik Spoelstra’s team on Monday night lost to a team that was trying to lose.

Given every opportunity to string together only their second winning streak since early January, the Heat disastrously declined the gift, falling 115-111 to the Utah Jazz at Kaseya Center.

Facing with the prospect of losing their first-round pick in June’s draft if it is not among the first eight, the Jazz pulled leading big men Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the night midway through the third quarter, with Jackson with 22 points at that stage and Markkanen with 17 points and eight rebounds.

Utah then played the entirety of the fourth quarter without four of their five starters.

And, still, the Heat could not take what was being given, albeit while paying in the injury absences of Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson and Tyler Herro.

The difference is those absences weren’t by choice, with Powell out with back pain, Larsson forearm discomfort and Herro a rib issue.

So, instead, empty numbers for the Heat, with Andrew Wiggins closing with 26 points, Kasparas Jakucionis with 20 and Bam Adebayo closing with 23 points and one rebound.

Five degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

— Game flow: The Heat led 32-26 at the end of the opening period, after taking an early 15-point lead. Utah then moved to a 61-52 halftime lead.

The Heat then tied it late in the third period, before Utah went into the fourth up 85-82.

From there, with the Jazz sitting their best, the Heat moved up five in the fourth quarter.

No matter, not when Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh converted a 3-pointer for a 113-111 Utah lead with 41.1 to play.

Misses on both ends followed, leaving the Heat in possession down two and out of timeouts with 8.6 seconds to play.

A wayward Jakucionis 3-point attempt later and it basically was over.

— Here’s why: So why did the Jazz sit their best for a second consecutive game when carrying a lead into a fourth quarter?

Because if Utah does not wind up with one of the first eight picks in June’s NBA draft, the pick goes to the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

The protected pick dates to a 2021 Jazz trade that unloaded the contract of Derrick Favors.

This is the third year the debt has rolled over. The pick was Top 10 protected in 2024 and ’25, now down to top-eight protection.

If the pick does not go to the Thunder this season, the transaction instead will be completed solely though a cash transaction.

The Jazz also sat their top players in the fourth quarter on Saturday night in Orlando, in a loss to the Magic.

The Jazz entered Monday with the NBA’s sixth-worst record.

— More big: With Larsson and Powell out, and with the Jazz opening big, Spoelstra returned to the Adebayo-Kel’el Ware opening pairing, the first time Ware had started since the Jan. 8 loss in Minnesota.

Whether it was matchup based or the reward of a solid pairing Sunday in Washington remains to be seen.

But it certainly seemed to make sense in this one, with the Jazz opening with a front line of 7-foot Jusuf Nurkic, 7-0 Markkanen and 6-11 Jackson.

The pairing then was limited in the second half, with Ware called for his fourth foul 1:35 into the third quarter, with Ware fouling out with 10:55 to play.

Ware closed with eight points and six rebounds in his 14 minutes.

— Still going: A game after shooting 6 of 6 on 3-pointers, Jakucionis this time made his first three 3-pointers and opened 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.

With Powell out, Spoelstra played all three of his point guards early, including playing Jakucionis and Dru Smith in trandem.

Smith did not play until mop-up duty on Sunday in Washington.

Jakucionis later returned in the second period to play alongside starting point guard Davion Mitchell.

— Attack mode: After falling to 2 of 10 for the night in the third quarter, Adebayo seemingly said enough was enough, moving on to score 11 points in the period.

That effort was eased with Jackson and then Markkanen off the court for the Jazz during the bulk of that surge.

Ultimately, it still wasn’t enough.

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The Chicago Cubs know they will get contributions this season from players who aren’t yet on their 40-man roster.

Spring training presents an opportunity for those nonroster players to put themselves on the organization’s radar. The Cubs on Monday announced invitations to big-league camp for 18 such players.

The breakdown by position:

• Pitchers (8): Jeff Brigham, Grant Kipp, Corbin Martin, Connor Noland, Connor Schultz, Collin Snider, Trent Thornton and Jaxon Wiggins.
• Catchers (3): Ariel Armas, Christian Bethancourt and Casey Optiz.
• Infielders (4): Scott Kingery, Jonathon Long, B.J. Murray and Jefferson Rojas.
• Outfielders (3): Brett Bateman, Dylan Carlson and Chas McCormick.

The group notably features two of their top prospects in Wiggins and Rojas, while the position-player invitees give the Cubs depth options with big-league experience in Kingery, Carlson and McCormick.

Carlson and McCormick have the clearest path to making the opening-day roster as the Cubs look for a fourth outfielder to back up their three starters. Both Carlson, a former first-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals, and McCormick, who when healthy played well in Houston, can play all three outfield positions.

The Cubs hold their first formal workout for pitchers and catchers Wednesday at the team’s complex in Mesa, Ariz. Their first full-squad workout is slated for next Monday.