Justin Herbert’s miraculous escape propels the Chargers to victory over the Dolphins.

Miami Gardens, Florida – The play will live on loop in Jim Harbaugh’s mind.

Thirty-four seconds remaining. The Chargers trail by a point and need 20 yards to get into range for a field goal. Justin Herbert retreats under intense pressure from his right side, and suddenly he has the Miami Dolphins’ linebacker Jaylan Phillips Hanging from his torso like a 260-pound hula hoop.

The quarterback — in what his coach calls a “Hercules” move — broke free from a sure sack and completed a short pass to Ladd McConkey, who rocked a defender with an ankle strike and picked up a 42-yard score before running out of bounds at the 17-minute mark.

It wasn’t just a signature moment Winning 29-27 Over the Dolphins — boosted by Cameron Decker’s fifth field goal of the day — but a Houdini-like escape from a third straight loss.

“He’s a great guy,” Harbaugh said of the quarterback. “I mean there are only a few in the game who can do this game.”

The coach knows, having played quarterback in the NFL, how hard it is to keep your balance and intelligence to make that play. It was somewhat similar to Herbert’s sidearm “Matrix” pass in the win over Denver in Week 3.

“He’s on a physical level that only a couple of players can reach,” Harbaugh said. “But mentally, pivoting like that is an emotional hijack. To keep your wits about you, visualize where someone is, move, lock in again, and execute an accurate throw. … This is reserved for the best of the best.”

There were several other elements to this winning drive that Harbaugh is happy to list, including a 40-yard kickoff return by Nyheim Heinz And proven kicker for Decker, who never missed a 40-yard field goal during his four-year NFL career.

But the bigger picture is that, like with Herbert on that play, the Chargers reset and turned it over. They won their first three games, lost their next two, and now they’ve won again despite key injuries throughout the roster.

Their offensive line is a bunch of poker plays, shuffled and rearranged, and they hit their third line with Najee Harris and Omarion Hampton both sidelined with injuries. They didn’t have receiver Quentin Johnston for Sunday’s game either.

Then again, they didn’t want to elicit too much sympathy from a troubled Dolphins team, which fell to 1-5, has the worst defense in the NFL and, not surprisingly, morale is as low as the Everglades.

“We’ve only had guys come to player meetings late,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa revealed from the podium in his postgame comments. “Men don’t just attend players’ meetings…

“There’s a lot to it. Do we have to make this mandatory? Shouldn’t we make it mandatory?”

The season is winding down for the Dolphins and the team is awash with questions. The sparse crowd that turned out on the wet day at Hard Rock Stadium nearly gave the home team a dramatic win. After generating less than 11 yards of offense in the third quarter, the Dolphins came alive in the fourth quarter and scored a pair of touchdowns.

With 46 seconds to play, Tagovailoa passed the ball to Darren Waller on a seven-yard pass that gave Miami a 27-26 lead, the sixth lead change of the day.

The Chargers seemed doomed. For everyone except the Chargers, that is.

“We knew we had time left,” guard Zion Johnson said. “We knew that if we had the chance, we would have a chance to win this game,” he added.

The Chargers already got a huge performance from little-used running back Kimani Vidal, who ran for 124 yards and turned a dump pass into a seven-yard touchdown.

Miami knows enough to care about running without a name. A week ago, the Dolphins were torched for 206 yards by Carolina reserve Rico Doodle.

But Vidal, a sixth-round pick out of Troy University in 2024, is a recognized playmaker in the eyes of his teammates.

“We know how strong he is,” Johnson said. “It’s great for the world to see what kind of running back he is.”

Vidal was fast, and so was the trip back to Los Angeles — or at least that’s what the Chargers expected.

“It’s going to look a lot shorter,” offensive tackle Austin Deculos said. “And tomorrow morning, breakfast will taste much better.”

In the meantime, Harbaugh intends to enjoy the moment and that classic quarterback play.

He said: “This play will remain stuck in my mind until they throw dirt on me.”