MIAMI -- The sky is not falling in South Florida, but it's certainly gray.
The Miami Dolphins lost their first home game of the season Monday night in a 28-27 upset by the Tennessee Titans -- a game in which they led by two touchdowns with less than four minutes remaining.
The Dolphins (9-4) are one game back of the Baltimore Ravens for the top seed in the AFC, and will earn the No. 1 seed if they win out. They're also two games ahead of the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East, and could clinch the division as early as Week 16 with a win Sunday over the New York Jets (1 p.m., E.T., CBS) and a Bills loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
But for a team looking to exercise its demons from last season's winless December, this loss felt like a step backward. With their most important regular season goals still attainable -- winning the division and earning at least one home playoff game -- the Dolphins can't afford to let the emotions of this loss set them on a course in the wrong direction.
"Especially games like that, there's a tangible amount of emotion that is derived from that," Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. "The way the game happened ... it can really just take over. You go to bed with emotion, you wake up with emotion. I understand that, and I think that's very valid for a bunch of people that care.
"Having said that, the objective, the main point is that you have to take that emotion and at some point you have to put it over here. ... The point is to learn from it and get better. The point is to use it in some way, shape or form moving forward. We have to."
McDaniel said his players met amongst themselves Tuesday as the process of unpacking Monday's loss began.
So what is there to unpack?
Miami entered the game without three of its starting five offensive linemen, and lost a fourth when center Connor Williams tore the ACL in his left knee on its opening drive. That helps explain quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being pressured on 40% of his dropbacks and sacked five times.
The Dolphins were also without both starting safeties, Jevon Holland and DeShon Elliott, and starting inside linebacker, Jerome Baker, who calls their defensive plays. Their absence added context to the four-play, 64-yard, game-winning drive they allowed Tennessee to orchestrate in just 26 seconds.
At the same time, the Dolphins scored touchdowns on just two of their five red zone trips. They know injuries help explain poor production, but do not excuse it.
"The building and the organization do a great job of selecting the guys that we get on the 53-man roster every year, and it's always next-man-up mentality," said linebacker Duke Riley, who replaced the injured Baker in Miami's starting lineup. "We know that. I feel like everyone on the team can make plays regardless. ... If you're out there and you're doing your job and you're focused on the right things, and you're detailed, the plays will come to you if you're just doing your job.
"Everyone has to play fundamentally sound football and we didn't do that as well on some plays yesterday and it came back, and as you can tell, we lost the game."
Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who has a career-high 7.5 sacks this season, said the Dolphins "needed to be a little more locked in" during the game's decisive moments, and that the teams must have a "foot on the throat mentality" in order to close out games in the future.
Riley will likely continue to man Baker's linebacker position for the foreseeable future, while lineman Liam Eichenberg will fill in for Williams, who will miss the remainder of the season.
McDaniel said Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead is closer to returning for Sunday's game against the Jets than is right guard Robert Hunt -- who McDaniel said would be a "pleasant surprise" if he were available Sunday.
Holland is hoping to return this week while Elliott has entered concussion protocol without a timetable for his return.
If Miami wins this week and the Bills lose, its magic number to clinch its first division title since 2008 will be one. If not, things could go down to the final game of the season between Miami and Buffalo.
The key, Dolphins players say, will be remaining in the moment and not looking too far ahead or behind.
"The biggest thing is the 24-hour rule in the NFL. We all have to look in the mirror and be grown men about this," Wilkins said. "What happened [Monday] night, take it on the chin. The most important thing is beating the Jets now. We have to turn the page really fast, and even faster now with a short week. The longer we sit and think about this one, even though it's a tough loss, that's not going to do anything for everybody.
"The most important thing now is today. Focus on getting better today, watching the tape, doing what we need to and learning from us so that we have a good week on a short week."