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At last, above the line.

Just like the fight song says.

It has been a wicked climb, but the Dolphins somehow, some way, have done it. By beating the remnants of the New Orleans Saints 20-3 on Monday night, the Dolphins have gone where no team has gone before: from 1-7 to 8-7.

They now own the No. 7 slot in the AFC standings, having bumped the Baltimore Ravens from atop the critical line separating teams on course for the playoffs and those whose course involves golf.

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Take the towel, draw the flag:Why did Alvin Kamara push Christian Wilkins in the back of the head? The Dolphin stole his towel.

Plenty of work lies ahead. As difficult as it once seemed for this team to win one game, let alone seven in a row, things only get tougher with the two remaining assignments: at Tennessee and home against New England.

Win both and Miami is in the playoffs, period. A beautiful thing, isn't it? Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, there at least will be an asterisk associated with this team.

This is where the warm-and-fuzzy part of this story takes a turn, because we have to be realistic about what happened in the Superdome. Letting a win gloss over the warts only invites future losses, and as we all know, this team's margin for error dried up ages ago.

It would be nice to say damn the torpedoes (and the oddsmakers) and say the Dolphins certainly can go into Nashville and leave Ryan Tannehill singing a sad country tune, then come home and punch their playoff ticket against Bill Belichick & Co.

It would be nice to say that, but these are the Dolphins, who have been turned away from the playoffs' doorstep before. After seeing this offense sputter against the Saints — after seeing the offensive line reverting back to September form and seeing Tua Tagovailoa throw up another ill-advised prayer that was intercepted — try concocting any possible eventuality for these final two Sundays that would shock you.

There is one, and only one: Miami’s defense not holding up its end of the bargain. No chance that happens.

Granted, the D was going against the Saints’ JV, but this was still a Sean Payton offense that was held to three points, 164 total yards and 0-for-12 on third down, not to mention conceding eight sacks. That’s playoff football. Heck, the way this unit has performed during the win streak is championship-contending football.

“I’m sure Flo will have some corrections,” linebacker Jerome Baker said in what can only be termed a half-joke.

The part about not needing help to reach the playoffs? That’s news to the players, they would have you believe, even now remaining in lockstep with Brian Flores’ tunnel vision. Flores, for his part after the game, reflected on the adversity the team endured during the seven-game losing streak.

"I think it revealed a lot," Flores said. "I would say it revealed the character of the guys in our locker room. Revealed that some people are with you and some people were on the fence."

Were those fence-riders on the team? Or was he taking a swipe at non-believers who figured a 1-7 team was hopeless simply because every other 1-7 team throughout history was just that? Asked to clarify, Flores didn’t.

 "I’ve always had belief in this team — our players, our coaches," he said. "Maybe there were some people who didn’t share that same belief and I understand why."

The Dolphins get to celebrate New Year’s in playoff position despite a frightful flight home from Buffalo on Halloween, having suffered their seventh straight loss. What kind of odds would you have needed right then to put even $1 down on a wager they wouldn’t lose again this calendar year? Maybe 100-1? Or 1,000-1?

Monday night’s victory means no need for watching any scoreboard unless the scoreboard has “Miami” lit up.

Miami is lit now, all right, the first team in NFL history to win seven in a row and lose seven in a row in the same season. Say what you want, but at least this team’s consistent.

If not for the Kansas City Chiefs, who have won eight straight, Miami would be the hottest team in the league. “The biggest single variable,” NBC’s Steve Kornacki called the Dolphins in the AFC playoff picture Sunday night. When you have the network guys rolling up their sleeves for you, that’s progress, especially after the Dolphins were ignored nationally until, oh, five minutes ago.

Unfortunately, the first look much of the nation had of these Dolphins wasn't convincing enough. The Dolphins, going against a Saints team that had 16 players on the COVID list, including its top two quarterbacks, waited until late in the third quarter to end fears they were allowing the Saints to hang around too long. Teams that do that, in that building, regret it, but the sharks on Miami’s defense kept circling, as if closing in on something special.

The hunch here is that every last player knew exactly what the stakes were, and are.

While all but wiping his brow with Alvin Kamara's towel, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said of the playoff picture, “You hear rumbles here and there.”