MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins looked like a real football team on Sunday. The kind that inspires some hope. The kind you want to cheer for, maybe even believe in.

Then came the start of the second half.

Then came the end of it.

That’s when the Dolphins Dolphin’d. They couldn’t leave win enough alone. They found a way to lose. They let you down. Again.

This would be the time, and the game, to give credit for effort, for no-quit, for almost. To offer condolences for the heartache of a last-second loss. Nope. Past that.

And so a promising 13-9 halftime lead and then a 27-26 lead with less than a minute left dissolved into a 29-27 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, sending Miami’s season record crashing to 1-5.

It was a heck of an exciting game. No matter. Miami on the wrong end of it. Again.

This was the fourth time the Fins have lost a game when tied or leading in the final quarter.

“Shocked,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa described his feeling postgame. “This is something we’ve talked about collectively as a team, finishing games like this. Last week, Carolina, this week you can look at it however you want. Even in our leadership meetings … it’s frustrating to say the least.”

The quarterback revealed: “It starts with leadership to articulate that for the guys. We have guys showing up for players-only meetings late, not showing up. Do we have to make this mandatory?”

Said coach Mike McDaniel of that: “Clearly he’s sending a message.”

The frustration is palpable. Sunday threw lighter fluid on the fire.

“We talk about figuring this out, getting it together collectively,” Tagovailoa said. “Are they getting it fixed? Are they not getting it fixed? Why are they not getting it fixed?”

That reboot they’ve tried to do on team culture? It’s a work in progress, to put it generously.

“I’m not worried about the team staying together,” McDaniel said. “I’m worried about us getting our football right.”

Miami has road games next at the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons. Both should be winnable games, but does Miami have any of those, really? This Dolphins team can think of no opponent as easy. Opponents are as likely to think of Miami that way.

That promising first half (which might have been a mirage or at best a masquerade) evaporated to a finish that brings us right back to the same place this calamitous year: To an increase in the volume of turmoil and angst.

There will be predictable calls for tanking now, for Miami to intentionally lose (wink, wink) with a very high draft pick the prize. As if these Dolphins require intention to lose games. Trade everybody! Right? Sure, that will work, too. What am I going to bid for an aging, injured Tyreek Hill?

There will also be increased rote calls for firing everybody today if not sooner, starting with coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier, not necessarily in that order. In due time, torch and pitchfork crowd, in due time. Barring a miracle finish for a playoff spot, both will be fired, it says here — I all but guarantee it. But to do so now would be punitive and feel good to many Dolfans, that’s all.

Miami was a real team, early, and even late, to a point. One that looked like it was still playing hard. The defense had its best half of the season. De’Von Achane and the offense had its moments.

The first half was won 13-9 amid three lead changes, cashing a touchdown and a pair of field goals to top Los Angeles' three FGs.

An Achane 49-yard scoring run, a 47-yard field goal and 27-yard three-pointer enabled by Jaylen Waddle’s 45-yard catch gave the Fins their lead at the break. The two plays from scrimmage of 40-plus yards equaled Miami’s total in the first five games.

The series that Achane ended in the end zone began when a Rasul Douglas punch caused a fumble that Jordyn Brooks reovered — the victim Bolts tight end Oronde Gadsden II, son of the former longtime Dolphins receiver.

Miami had the usual mistakes holding it back, of course:

A Waddle missed catch that turned into an early interception. A personal foul for contact with the long snapper. A defensive timeout to avoid 12 men on the field. A missed block causing a sack. A missed field goal wide right. An illegal hands flag erasing a first-down completion.

But the halftime lead made all of those lose their importance, or at least their weight.

Did Dolfans at halftime dare feel good? Yeah, probably not. And with good reason.

If a team can blow a 17-point lead to lowly Carolina, as Dolfans suffered last week, what’s a four-point lead on a better Chargers team?

So the third quarter begins with Justin Herbert passing right down the field, tagging Ladd McConkey with a 5-yard scoring pass and a 16-13 lead.

Then came another Tagovailoa interception — this one squarely his fault on a pass behind Achane. That led to a short field and another Herbert TD pass to make it 23-13 late in the third.

Tagovailoa took a third-down sack after that for a punt and the boos rained down at a less-than-sold-out Hard Rock Stadium.

The Chargers tacked on another field goal then. Miami looked done.

But wait.

Miami answered 17 straight unanswered second-half Los Angeles points with a short Achane TD run to shave the Bolts’ lead to 26-20 with 7:56 left.

Then came a brilliant Tua-led drive in which he was 8 for 8 for 57 yards, culminating with a 7-yard scoring pass to tight end Darren Waller. Forty-six seconds remained. Fans were celebrating.

Then the Dolphins Dolphin’d.

A Chargers kick return to the 41. A 42-yard pass-play to McConkey. A winning (or losing) 33-yard field goal with five seconds to play.

Fittingly, the last play of the game was a Tua interception.

McDaniel had said before the game: “Bottom line is it’s frustrating because there’s a lot of talking and we need to major in doing. And I don’t think anybody wants to hear me talk about it as much as I don’t feel like saying it. It doesn’t change the steadfast reality that is you have to get better at things or you’ll continue having these same results.”

The Dolphins played pretty well Sunday, for them. It was encouraging, in a way.

But a loss is a loss, 1-5 is 1-5, and McDaniel’s lament is pure truth.

The Miami Dolphins keep finding ways to lose.

“Football games and life don’t just happen to you. No one really has time or cares how you feel,” said the head coach fighting for his football life. “Losing feels like trash. No one cares. You have control over the next result and that’s it. Until we figure this out, we’re gonna feel the way we feel.”

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