A month ago, the Miami Dolphins looked lifeless in the water.

Even after the return of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a concussion in Week 2 and missed four games, the team was 2-6 — seemingly closer to the No. 1 overall pick than to the playoffs.

Tagovailoa and the Dolphins have been on fire since then, rattling off three straight wins – putting them just 1 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot in the AFC. And in the five weeks since his return, Tagovailoa has played some of the best football of his career, posting a 76.5% completion percentage with 11 touchdowns, one interception and a 116.2 passer rating.

Miami now appears to be much closer to the team that made the playoffs, albeit with mistakes, the last two seasons. But while the last three wins have been impressive (and the previous two losses came on game-winning field goals), none of the Dolphins’ five wins this year have come against a team that currently has a winning record.

And that’s why Thursday night’s Green Bay Packers will be a real test of Miami’s contender status.

The Dolphins will try to address several criticisms heading into Thanksgiving. Can Tagovailoa beat a winning team? Can Miami win in prime time? Can the offense thrive in cold weather?

The Packers serve as a foil to the Dolphins in many ways.

Quarterback Jordan Love (who was in the same 2020 draft class as Tagovailoa) doesn’t have as long of a resume, but perhaps a more impressive one.

Last season, his first as a starter, Love rescued a 2-5 Green Bay team and led them to a 7-3 record (and a playoff berth). That run included two monster wins – on the road against the Detroit Lions and at home against the Kansas City Chiefs on “Sunday Night Football.”

All seven of those wins came in November, December and January. Finally, Love and the Packers also went on the road and upset the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs.

That’s about the opposite of Miami last year. The Dolphins started 8-3, narrowly got to 3-3, and then were knocked out of the postseason by the Chiefs.

This season, Green Bay is off to an 8-3 start. The Packers rank fifth in total offense and eighth in scoring. And Love ranks sixth in the NFL with 18 passing touchdowns despite missing several games with a knee injury.

Unlike the Dolphins, who went 1-3 through four games without Tagovailoa, Green Bay found ways to win without Love and went 2-0 in his absence. A big reason for this success was the Packers’ strong rushing attack, the third best in the league.

Miami has had high-profile opportunities to showcase its skills before, but has squandered almost all of them. Last season, the Dolphins lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football, to Kansas City in Germany and in Week 18 to the Buffalo Bills in a de facto AFC East championship game. These were the type of games I love and Green Bay won the whole way.

Ultimately, Tagovailoa’s play over the last five weeks is nothing to scoff at, especially given the frightening nature of his at least third concussion as a professional earlier this season. But if he and the Dolphins want to keep their playoff hopes alive, they’ll have to beat a Packers team that’s proven to be a step ahead of them.