Latest loss throws major wrench into Miami’s postseason hopes

The Dolphins had been on a heater. In Green Bay, they didn’t have enough of them.

Yet again, Miami struggled in a cold-weather environment.

“That’s the thing with narratives,” coach Mike McDaniel told reporters last night. “There’s one way to change them and so my expectation would be those who, the naysayers, you prove them right, they’ll be louder. That’s part of the territory. You carry that until you do something about it, and unfortunately, we didn’t tonight.”

For the Dolphins, one of the most prominent naysayers came from inside the house, with linebacker Jordyn Brooks saying the Dolphins were soft in conditions that otherwise makes things harden and crack.

The loss will complicate significantly an already unlikely run to the postseason. Now at 5-7, the Dolphins will need to catch one of the current wild-card teams: (1) the 8-3 Steelers or the 8-4 Ravens; (2) the 7-5 Chargers; or (3) the 7-5 Broncos. (They’ll also have to fend off the 5-7 Colts and the 4-7 Bengals.)

“As far as season hopes I would say that this one was a tough one for us as a team,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa told reporters after the loss to the Packers. “I know what this game meant to a lot of the guys in this locker room. I wouldn’t say that the dream is dead for our team just yet. Anything can happen in this league and we are going to watch the film and look over things that we need to get better at. We are going to come back next week and just keep chopping wood. Keep chopping wood and find a way to win the next game and keep stacking those again.”

The Dolphins have five chances left — Jets, at Texans, 49ers, at Browns, at Jets. Two more cold-weather games. Two more games against playoff contenders.

On that point, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald shares a statistic that should be regarded as alarming for the Dolphins. Last year, Miami played seven games against teams that made the playoffs. They went 1-6, and they were outscored in those games by 110 points. This year, they’re 0-4 against teams currently in position to make it to the postseason. In those games, they’ve been outscored by 58 points.

It speaks to deeper flaws that the Dolphins have yet to resolve. While they can handle inferior foes, they have a hard time showing up against the better teams in the league.

They can get salty or downright defiant when those facts are pointed out, if they want. But facts are facts and facts not only shape narratives but sharpen them. Over the next five weeks, it will be for the Dolphins to disprove those facts — or not.

If they can’t, there are deeper questions that the Dolphins desperately need to address.