Tua Tagovailoa has found plenty of success in the NFL, from his 2023 Pro Bowl selection, to leading the league in passing yards in 2023 and completion percentage in 2024. Consistently headlining some dynamic Miami Dolphins offenses, the former Alabama star has become one of the highest-paid players at this position.
Despite Tagovailoa’s successes, he’s certainly had some faults — some that are out of his power, like injury issues. There’s another narrative has followed the Dolphins star in his career as well: his struggles in cold weather.
Including his lone playoff appearance in Kansas City, Tagovailoa hasn’t exactly played his best football when the temperatures drop, a trend that continued in Week 16 of the 2025 season when he traveled to Pittsburgh.
Here’s a breakdown of Tagovailoa’s history of struggles in cold games.
Tua Tagovailoa record in cold weather
- 40 degrees or colder: 0-6
- 45 degrees or colder: 1-7
- 50 degrees or colder: 2-9
Tagovailoa, who was born and raised in Hawai’i, then attended Alabama before being drafted by the Dolphins, hasn’t had to worry about cold football weather too often. Most of the time, his games have come in the southern half of the U.S., offering enough sunshine to not worry about snow or seeing one’s breath.
However, when Tagovailoa has been the quarterback in colder games since he joined the NFL, the Dolphins haven’t been very good. That doesn’t fall all on Tagovailoa, as running the football is typically a key in colder weather, but he certainly hasn’t helped too much.
Coming into Week 15 of the 2025 season, Tagovailoa had gone 0-5 in games at 40 degrees or colder, 1-6 in games at 45 degrees or colder, and 2-8 in games at 50 degrees or colder, per the Palm Beach Post. His lone win under 45 degrees came in December 2025, when the Dolphins beat the New York Jets 34-10 with temperatures around 41 degrees at kickoff.
The Dolphins then dropped a game to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15 of 2025, with kickoff temperatures around 20 degrees, dropping Tagovailoa’s sub-40-degree record to 0-6.
Asante Samuel Jr. picks off Tua!
MIAvsPIT on ESPN/ABCStream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/JQG3qDu9Kk
— NFL (@NFL) December 16, 2025
Tagovailoa’s six losses in sub-40 degree weather have been at Buffalo, at Tennessee, at Buffalo, at Kansas City, at Green Bay and at Pittsburgh.
The quarterback dismissed the cold weather narrative, however, coming into a matchup against the Steelers in 2025.
“It’s football, bro,” Tagovailoa said, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It is what it is. We got to play them in Pittsburgh, whether it’s negative-20, whether it’s 20 degrees. We got to play football.”
It’s not just Tagovailoa — with their loss in the sub-20 degree weather against the Pittsburgh Steelers in December 2025, as a team, the Dolphins had lost 14 consecutive games with kickoff temperatures below 40 degrees, per ESPN.
Tua Tagovailoa stats in cold weather
Here’s a game-by-game, and total, breakdown of Tagovailoa’s six career games in temperatures below 40 degrees.
| Date | Location | Kickoff Temperature | Final Score | Completions/Attempts | Passing Yards | Passing TDs | INTs | Rating |
| Jan. 3, 2021 | at Buffalo | 35 degrees | Bills 56, Dolphins 26 | 35-58 | 361 | 1 | 3 | 62.5 |
| Jan. 2, 2022 | at Tennessee | 31 degrees | Titans 34, Dolphins 3 | 18-35 | 205 | 0 | 1 | 53.1 |
| Dec. 17, 2022 | at Buffalo | 29 degrees | Bills 32, Dolphins 29 | 17-30 | 234 | 2 | 0 | 104.0 |
| Jan. 13, 2024 | at Kansas City | -4 degrees | Chiefs 26, Dolphins 7 | 20-39 | 199 | 1 | 1 | 63.9 |
| Nov. 28, 2024 | at Green Bay | 27 degrees | Packers 30, Dolphins 17 | 37-46 | 365 | 2 | 0 | 114.2 |
| Dec. 15, 2025 | at Pittsburgh | 17 degrees | Steelers 28, Dolphins 15 | 22-28 | 254 | 2 | 1 | 113.4 |
| TOTALS: | – | – | 0-6 | 149-236 (63.1%) | 1,618 | 8 | 6 | 85.2 |
