Quinn Ewers struggles in his first NFL action, Dolphins head coach focused on learning

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Quinn Ewers got his first taste of NFL action in the Dolphins' 24-24 preseason tie with the Bears on Sunday, and he certainly looked like a rookie.

Ewers completed 5 of 18 passes for 91 yards, fumbling twice on sacks, which led to turnovers. Ewers is the No. 3 quarterback on the Dolphins' depth chart to start the season. Backup Zach Wilson was 5-for-9 for 96 yards and was sacked four times, and starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was 5-for-6 passing with 27 yards, playing only the first drive of the game.

The second Ewers fumble gave the Bears the ball in Dolphins territory late in the game, but the Miami defense bailed him out, forcing a turnover on downs with five seconds remaining.

Tagovailoa said both signal callers behind him are still learning the offense, and especially for Ewers, it was his first time facing an NFL pass rush.

"It's a learning lesson for them, and they've got two more opportunities," Tagovailoa said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next time."

Wilson was the No. 2 overall pick by the Jets in the 2021 NFL Draft and is now on his third team. The Dolphins signed Wilson in the offseason after he played for the Broncos last season. Ewers was a seventh-round pick for the Dolphins in this year's draft.

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel wasn't overly concerned about the performance by his team in general. His approach to preseason is to put his guys, particularly quarterbacks, in "challenging" situations to get them on tape so they can process and learn from them.

"Regardless of what was going to happen today, we knew this would be a start-off point to continue to work on what we need to work on," he said. "You can't replicate these kinds of reps ... playing quarterback in a stadium for the first time within a system."

With two joint practices and a game against the Jaguars this week, McDaniel wants to see growth from his players.

"The team is unilaterally focused on improving," he said. "The energy and connectivity of the team is strong, and I think guys were doing a better job in the game than in practice of committing to their fundamentals. The guys are hungry to work."