Instant takeaways from the Miami Dolphins' 33-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The five-game winning streak is no more.

Despite facing a backup quarterback nearly the entire game, the Dolphins lost to the San Francisco 49ers 33-17 Sunday after an attempted late comeback fell short.

The 49ers, relying on rookie quarterback Brock Purdy after Jimmy Garoppolo was injured, held on amid two fourth-down gambles by Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel that appeared to put Miami in control after falling behind 23-10.

The first was a gutsy gamble on fourth-and-1 on Miami’s 19-yard line with 9:59 left. Tua Tagovailoa hit Tyreek Hill with an 8-yard completion to move the sticks.

Game recap: A look back at Dolphins vs. 49ers

Early QB change: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo out vs. Miami Dolphins, Brock Purdy in

McDaniel wasn’t done, going for it again on a fourth-and-2 situation on the 49ers’ 36-yard line. This time, Tagovailoa hit Mike Gesicki with what originally was ruled a first-down catch along the sideline. But 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan challenged the ruling and replays showed Gesicki never had control of the ball.

The 49ers took possession and marched downfield for the clinching field goal with 2:03 left.

Both teams are 8-4.

Here are our takeaways from the game:

Tua Tagovailoa most accurate — except on this day

Tagovailoa is human.

Tagovailoa entered the game leading the NFL in accuracy but he didn’t live up to it. Yes, there were occasions when he was under pressure behind a makeshift offensive line, but there were times he had time to find the open man and was off target.

Tagovailoa overshot his receivers on several throws and seemed to have timing issues with Jaylen Waddle, at one point missing him on three consecutive targets.

At least two of his first-half passes flirted with being interception fodder before Tagovailoa’s luck ran out in the third quarter. Under pressure, Tagovailoa unloaded a pass toward Cedrick Wilson that was intercepted by Jimmie Wilson — Tagovailoa’s first interception since September. Cedrick Wilson slipped on the play.

It stung even worse because only seconds earlier, Miami had everything going its way. Tagovailoa hit Tyreek Hill with a 21-yard pass that turned into something bigger when Nick Bosa was called for roughing the passer. That gave Miami the ball on the San Francisco 28, but a false start by Robert Jones and a holding penalty on Rob Hunt directly preceded the interception.

Even more surprising: On Tagovailoa’s next throw, he badly missed a wide-open Hill, allowing Deommodore Lenoir to intercept on the Miami 25.

In the dying minutes, Tagovailoa also was sacked by Bosa, resulting in a fumble return for a touchdown by Dre Greenlaw.

Defense should have set tone

Jaelan Phillips landed on Jimmy Garoppolo and knocked him out of the game on San Francisco’s first series, which should have hampered the 49ers’ ability to move the ball, let alone score, but that’s not what followed.

By halftime, the 49ers had 17 points and 224 yards despite being led by Brock Purdy, the 262nd and final pick of this year’s draft.

The worst of it was when the 49ers took possession with 2:48 left in the half and went on an 11-play, 76-yard drive. Typical of the half was a third-and-10 play in which Purdy, on the brink of getting hammered by Phillips, completed a 19-yard pass to tight end George Kittle.

Things got worse from there. With the 49ers out of timeouts in the dying seconds, Purdy hit Christian McCaffrey on a third-and-goal play from the 3 that never should have been as easy as it looked. It appeared that Keion Crossen was responsible for McCaffrey, but he was lined up deep in the end zone and had no chance of stopping McCaffrey from walking into the end zone.

On a day when the defense should have been taking charge, it didn’t.

So much hinging on when Terron Armstead can return

As expected, the Dolphins were forced to line up Greg Little at left tackle and Brandon Shell at right tackle.

Starting left tackle Terron Armstead was out with a strained pectoral and right tackle Austin Jackson missed the game with an ankle injury.

There were times Tagovailoa was under siege, including two early sacks by Bosa, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

The question now is whether we should get used to the Little-Shell combination. Jackson has been out most of this season and Armstead has had to fight through a toe injury that has forced him to miss most of the practices. McDaniel had held out a bit of hope last week that Armstead might be able to go, but he was inactive. The question is whether Armstead could be risking a torn pec if he plays. That would end his season and have a huge impact on the offense.

Lightning strikes at the start with Trent Sherfield

The Dolphins began the game in spectacular fashion.

Tagovailoa hit ex-49er Trent Sherfield coming across the middle. Problem was the 49ers’ secondary took bad angles, misjudging Sherfield’s speed. Once Sherfield turned it upfield, nobody was going to catch him.

Result: 75 yards later, the Dolphins were up 7-0.

The play took all of 10 seconds — as fast a score as Miami will ever have.

Dolphins still in good position for playoffs

The bad news: The loss drops the Dolphins to 8-4 with two tough road games still ahead.

The good news: This is the least costly potential defeat of these three games.

The Dolphins are still a game behind the Bills (9-3) in the AFC East, but they visit Buffalo in two weeks and already own a win over the Bills.

They visit the Los Angeles Chargers next Sunday. They’ll carry a 6-3 conference record into that game and can build on that tiebreaker these next couple of weeks.

Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins takeaways vs. San Francisco 49ers in NFL Week 13