MIAMI — The Jets put up a good fight, but they left Hard Rock Stadium with a 31-24 loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.

Yes, moral victories are minuscule, give the Jets credit. They played with a level of competitiveness they’ve sorely missed through most of this season.

Zach Wilson played OK and finished with 170 yards passing, a lost fumble, a rushing touchdown and was sacked six times. But there was a chance going into the last drive of the game.

The Jets (3-11) were a 10-point underdog coming into their Week 15 matchup and nearly had the Dolphins on the ropes.

They could have packed it in. They were 3-10 coming in, but the team fought to the end.

However, the Jets atrocious run defense sunk them, allowing 183 yards rushing to the 31st ranked running attack which blew the upset.

Dolphins Duke Johnson, who was active only once this year, ran for 102 yards and scored twice. Myles Gaskins added 54 on the ground.

The Robert Saleh defense continues struggling against the run as they’ve allowed 168 yards per game in the last seven outings.

“Credit to them for they did run hard but it’s not good enough,” Saleh said. “It’s not that we don’t have answers, but we got to get a job from a schematic sample and gotta do a better job tackling.”

If the run defense played better, it’s a completely different game. The pass defense stifled Tua Tagovailoa, who had compiled a passer rating of over 100 in four straight games. They held him to 193 passing yards with two interceptions and a passer rating of 75.

But the Jets defense could not stop the Dolphins, who came into Sunday averaging 79 rushing yards a game, on the ground.

“To start off, I felt like we were really on our Ps and Qs as far as their running game, as far as with their scheme and what we wanted to do with the game,” C.J Mosley said. “As the game continued, they started to move the ball and started to execute better than we did.”

A prime example came in the fourth quarter.

Gang Green trailed, 17-24, with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Tagovailoa dropped back and threw a hitch route to Hunter Long. Brandin Echols stepped in front of the throw, intercepted it and sprinted into the end zone.

Tie game, 24-24.

There was hope, excitement and belief the Jets could upset the Dolphins (who are now on a six-game winning streak) and spoil their playoff hope.

The Jets run defense then failed to carry on the momentum Echols’ built back.

The Dolphins went on a nine-play, 75-yard drive and rushed for 64 yards before Tagovailoa hit Devante Parker on a slant route for an 11-yard touchdown.

The Jets trailed 31-24, and the offense went three-and-out on the following possession. But the Jets defense found a way to get the Jets the ball back with 1:49 remaining in the fourth.

And on fourth-and-10, Wilson hit Keelan Cole on an out route, but Cole was one yard short.

Game over.

But the way it ended for the Jets was a completely different story than how it started.

After the first quarter, the Jets had scored 10 points, made seven first downs and totaled 100 yards of offense. The defense, meanwhile, held the Dolphins to 36 yards, zero points and Ashtyn Davis intercepted Tagovailoa.

Wilson was 6-of-9 for 66 yards in the opening frame.

And Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s play calling successfully combated the Dolphins’ heavy blitz attack by moving the pocket with play action and calling quick passes.

The defense rolled and the offense cooked up their best first quarter of the season.

The Dolphins answered as they marched down the field and capped an eight-play, 68-yard touchdown drive.

The Jets offense countered on their first possession in the second quarter which featured an exceptional off-script play by Wilson to hit Ryan Griffin for a 23-yard gain. Wilson capped the drive with a quarterback sneak.

At the horn, the Jets led, 17-10, for their first half time lead of the season.

But, once again, the Jets offense couldn’t maintain any level of efficiency for a full game. On Sunday, they mustered a measly 128 yards and scored seven after the opening quarter. Similar to the Eagles game, the offense started well and failed to build on it.

In the first half Wilson went 9-for-14 for 118 yards. But in the second half, he only passed for 52.

“I thought they did some good things in the second half that made it tough on us,” Wilson said. “We just gotta keep going and trying to execute.”

Wilson pointed out the Dolphins shift in defensive play calling. The Jets saw more man coverage, which forced the No. 2 overall pick to hold the ball longer as waited for his receiving corps to shake open.

The combination of the receiving corps not getting open quick enough and Wilson holding the ball resulted in five second half sacks.

And the defense allowed the Dolphins to score 21 points in the second half, mainly because of the soft attack against the run.

Zero points scored by an offense and 21 given up in the second half, will cost a team on 99 Sundays out of 100.

But overall, the effort on display against the Dolphins is something the Jets can hang their hat on. It’s better to lose at the wire than get blown out.