MIAMI — Steve Ross had this cheesy grin on his face after Sunday’s 29-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers, and it was more Velveeta than normal.

It was the type of look one might have when they are content, satisfied, maybe even hopeful.

The Miami Dolphins owner has a right to feel however he would like.

Like the people he hired to run and coach his NFL franchise, Ross has probably excused this Dolphins 7-8 season on injuries, like he did in 2023, and 2022, and 2021, and so on and so on.

The Dolphins had just beaten a tough NFC foe, one that had gone to the Super Bowl last season, and the victory over this 6-9 team kept Miami’s faint playoff hopes alive.

This team still has a pulse when it comes to postseason talk. It’s a faint one, but the toe tag hasn’t been put on yet.

“[This is] huge for us,” said cornerback Kader Kohou, who picked off San Francisco’s Brock Purdy in the game’s final two minutes, preventing the 49ers from potentially putting together a game-winning drive since Miami led 22-17 at that point in the contest. ”There isn’t any thoughts in our mind we’re thinking Cancun. Playoffs are still on our mind.”

However, we’re approaching the point of the program that Ross fears the most.

Apathy.

That’s the dreaded state of not caring, not paying attention to, tuning out, and that’s where South Florida’s fan base is headed with these Dolphins.

While I’m aware the San Francisco 49ers are one of the NFL’s most storied franchises, and have a national fan base, I didn’t expect their fans to rival the Dolphins for home-field advantage in Hard Rock Stadium, and that was the case on Sunday.

There were 49ers fans in the club suits, and littered through the 100 level of the stadium, where season-ticket holders clearly own the seats. The only way they got there was by purchasing tickets from alleged Dolphins fans.

And this was the home finale.

And I get it, this is the holiday season, and people are traveling, but a home stadium with a quiet crowd while on defense as the 49ers are rallying in the fourth, trying to come from behind to steal a close game, is dangerous.

This is season-ticket renewal time, and at this point I would struggle with handing over my deposit because this franchise’s future is hard to sell.

Has coach Mike McDaniel’s offense been figured out?

Can Tua Tagovailoa win a big game, one where the stakes are high?

Is Tyreek Hill, who caught three passes for 29 yards and a touchdown, but dropped two end zone throws that came his way, past his prime?

The run game returned Sunday as the Dolphins gained 166 yards on 30 carries, but is it here to stay?

The offensive line needs to be rebuilt, again.

The defensive line has one returning starter [Zach Sieler] under contract.

The Dolphins have one decent linebacker (Jordyn Brooks, who sustained a calf injury on Sunday) on the roster next season, and the starting safeties need to be replaced.

And on top of that, the Dolphins are salary cap strapped with more than a dozen impending free agents, which means the organization will need to restructure contracts, and purge players just to get to baseline.

At the beginning of this rebuild, which officially began in 2019 when the Dolphins traded one of its top players (offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil) for a treasure chest of draft picks, the franchise could sell young players who had the potential to grow into standouts, if not stars.

Tagovailoa was a college sensation at Alabama who was viewed as a young promising quarterback. Now he’s somewhere between this generation’s Matt Ryan and Drew Brees.

The problem is, when the lights shine bright this Dolphins team typically runs and hides.

We’ll see if that theme continues the next two weeks.

Lose either of the season’s final two games and Miami’s postseason fate is sealed. Book those Cancun tickets.

If the Chargers win at New England at 1 p.m. ET Saturday and the Broncos win at Cincinnati at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the Dolphins would be eliminated from playoff contention.

In or out, if we’re being transparent, what we witnessed Sunday is a good indicator that this team hasn’t mailed it in, like some other Dolphins squad did when they stopped believing in their quarterback (cough, cough Ryan Tannehill), and coaching staff (cough, cough Adam Gase).

“This is the time you find success in an adverse situation where most would quit,” McDaniel said. “This is validation of why we’ve been putting so much into this team.

“[But] No one cares about one win in December or January,” McDaniel later said. “It’s about accumulating those.”

And that’s where these Dolphins have failed time and time again, year after year.

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