Out of control: 5th straight loss by reeling Miami Dolphins has playoff hopes teetering | Opinion

The Miami Dolphins lost their grip on Sunday at New England, lost their grip on this season, and lost the control they’d had on making the NFL playoffs.

Their quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, couldn’t grip the football after injuring a finger late in the third quarter, and neither could his team hold on to its certainty of making the playoffs — a fate that seemed all-but-guaranteed when Miami was 8-3.

That was before winter crushed and buried the Dolphins like an avalanche.

Before a fifth consecutive loss on New Year’s Day, 23-21 to the Patriots, followed an 0-for-December swoon.

“It sucks man,” said Tyreek Hill, who cashed another touchdown. “Right now, we are in a mud puddle.”

Don’t you dare say “Happy New Year!” right now to anyone who loves the Dolphins. They are liable to punch you. Or maybe just start weeping.

Miami could have clinched a playoff spot Sunday by winning, if the New York Jets then lost in Seattle.

Now, the Dolphins, square at 8-8, a fortune .500 most depressing, can only hope to still make the playoffs if they beat the Jets at home next week and if the Patriots lose or tie at Buffalo. And will the division-champ Bills rest their starters?

The computers put Miami’s playoff-likelihood at 83 percent if they’d won Sunday, and at 44 percent now.

The Dolphins have not made the postseason since 2016 and have only twice in the past 20 years.

But does any team losing five games in a row when the games are biggest even deserve to advance?

On the other hand, don’t the snake-bit Dolphins deserve just a little a shred of luck?

I mean, Miami played Sunday with quarterback Tua Tagovailao out with his latest concussion. Then backup Bridegwater went out, with third-stringer Skylar Thompson finishing up.

Who will start next week is anybody’s guess? Any chance Dan Marino can start limbering up?

“Definitely didn’t expect this. It’s pretty frustrating,” said coach Mike McDaniel. “You want to get the results you feel like the team deserves and should get, and you come up short. You make critical mistakes with points scored off turnovers, and we had a collection of penalties that really cost us, so those types of things will leave you with the type of result we were trying to avoid. We still have games to play. We have one in particular against the New York Jets that we have to respond to.”

Everything turned Sunday — game and season — late in the third quarter.

The Fins led 14-10.

Then they didn’t.

Then the Pats’ Kyle Dugger returned an underthrown Bridgewater interception 39 yards for a 16-14 New England lead after a missed extra point.

Miami never led again.

Bridgewater soon after injured his finger and gave way to Thompson, whose great preseason was an eternity ago.

The game was taut with playoff stakes, all the more so after the first half was tied in a 7-7 knot.

The Patriots were up 7-0 fast when Mac Jones’ 7-yard touchdown pass to Tyquan Thornton beat Fins cornerback Noah Igbinoghene.

Dolphins countered to even it 7-7 on Hill’s 2-yard run, followed by a cartwheel/somersault combination.

(Point for acrobatics, Tyreek, but we still prefer the old-school simplicity of your teammate’s side-to-side “The Waddle.”)

Miami tried to run but found that tough early on, while Bridgewater was a careful, efficient 10-for-13 in a first half whose signature for the Fins was stout defense limiting the Pats to 120 net offensive yards.

The defense kept playing well, but the offense collapsed. Once again, the value of a healthy Tagovailoa was evident in his glaring absence.

Miami also was missing other key players to injuries including cornerback Xavien Howard, left tackle Terron Armstead and linebacker Bradley Chubb — the absences ill-timed every one. But none worse than Tua not there.

Now, for the Dolphins, once 8-3 and sailing, the playoffs are a crapshoot. Must-win and hope.

Five losses in a row when the games count most will get you there.