Dave Hyde: To see how far Miami Dolphins have come, look at Sunday’s losers

In the respectful quiet of a losing locker room, Washington defensive tackle Jonathan Allen was asked Sunday what needs to change on his dreadful team.

“That’s a great question,’’ he said after losing to the Miami Dolphins 45-15. “I have no idea.”

For most of this millennium, I asked that question. I wrote that answer. I stood in the Dolphins locker room wondering, as Washington did Sunday, if a talented receiver like Terry McLaurin was upset after getting zero catches.

“I ran a lot of cardio,’’ he said.

It wasn’t quite as humorous as Dolphins receiver Mike Wallace fearing he’d say what he really thought after a game and having teammate Brandon Gibson answer questions for him. But it was close enough. Just as the deathwatch of coach Ron Rivera’s Washington era is close to a litany of failed Dolphins coaches for two decades.

There’s nothing like writing about good men as the elevator is at the low point of their careers, Sunday after Sunday, to realize what everyone in the sportswriting business knows: It’s always better to cover a winner than a loser. New England Patriots writers wrote books for years. I wrote obituaries.

I wrote about losing Dolphins teams so long that readers’ letters saying “You’re only ripping them to sell newspapers,” became e-mails saying  “You’re only ripping them as clickbait.”

The larger truth is losing teams don’t draw readers. Winning teams do. The Miami Heat winning a title. The Florida Marlins, back when they were called that, winning a World Series. That’s what draws readership.

The 2023 Dolphins starting December with a 9-3 record and being the most entertaining show in football have flipped all this. They’re fun to watch, fun to write — fun in a lot of pent-up ways for South Florida after watching a franchise that spent decades in a dysfunctional Dark Ages many opponents are dealing with now.

Boston writers have coach Bill Belichick fired and have made headlined reference to the 2-10 Patriots hitting, “Rock Bottom” after each game for weeks now. Sorry, you haven’t hit it. Keep looking down. It might be years.

That’s from callused experience. Just when Joe Philbin delivered a motivational speech to the team off index cards and you thought that was the bottom, there came the saga of Bullygate. And then a cocaine-sniffing assistant coach. And then passing on Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. And …

Ryan Tannehill returns to town Sunday with Tennessee, and he came to mind because of another question in the Washington locker room. It’s another go-to idea about gauging character on a losing team.

“I’ve been dealing with this for seven years — I’m tired to trying to build character,” Allen said. “My character has been built up enough. I’m trying to win.”

That’s the same answer Hall of Famers like Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas gave for too many years and more talents with equally strong character like Tannehill did. He wanted to win. He did for a while with a better team in Tennessee.

“I’d like to go through a season where I’m asked ‘winning’ questions,’’ Tannehill said after the 2015 season.

It’s more interesting to ask them, too. Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel saying Sunday how defensive coordinator Vic Fangio  noticing a move by the Washington left tackle led to his pick-6. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa answering how a simple shift put Washington’s defense in a quandary and led to receiver Tyreek Hill’s 78- and 60-yard touchdowns.

“This offense is fun,’’ Tagovailoa said. “I think any offense is fun when you’re scoring a lot of points.”

Those aren’t the quotes that came out of Dolphins locker room for two decades. To remember what was, and understand the fine art of asking losing teams what’s wrong, there was the other side of the stadium again Sunday.

Rivera, who is aware enough to know his Washington days are numbered, was asked what his message is to his team with six games left.

“We got a quarter of a season left to play and expect everybody to show up and play,’’ he said.

That’s what the Dolphins coaches from Dave Wannstedt to Adam Gase sounded like by their end. It’s a changed world now. The Patriots talk of an era ending as the Dolphins wonder if one is beginning.