SAN DIEGO — Before the San Diego Chargers say hello to a good bye there’s a little date in South Beach.

Make that a big date.

The Chargers (5-3) visit the Miami Dolphins (4-3) on Sunday. The San Diego crew isn’t there to get sand between the toes. There will be plenty of time for that after Sunday as the Chargers cannon ball into their bye week.

But will they kick up their feet proudly with an impressive record? Or will they be a muddling 5-4 and riding a three-game skid?

“To be 6-3 and to have a bye and to know you have some guys coming back being healthy and then to have a couple in a row at home (is our goal),” quarterback Philip Rivers said.

Rivers is focused on the surging Dolphins. But he’s also doing what anyone swearing allegiance to the Chargers would do: look ahead.

If the Chargers win on Sunday, their standing is attractive. Things go the opposite way and not so much.

“We don’t want losing to become contagious,” safety Eric Weddle said.

True. But Rivers looks at the other end.

“Winning is contagious, too,” he said. “When we were winning, and we won those five in a row, you guys walked into the locker room thinking these guys can’t be stopped right now. It has a feel to it.

“Then you lose a couple … you start to get in this mood of ‘oh no, we’re going to lose another one.’ But I don’t think we have had that.”

What the Chargers did get was a rugged patch of the schedule in losses to Kansas City and at Denver. Rivers wants everyone to know that.

“We got to make sure we don’t play with a lack of confidence or a lack of anything,” he said. “We’re a good team that has lost two games to two good teams. And Miami is a good team. We got to get ready to play better than we have the last two weeks. In a tough place.”

And if the Chargers want to get in a good place they need to rebound.

The Dolphins have won three of four and are making noise of their own. The Chargers wrestle a team that has won two straight and has eyes on the playoffs as well.

“They have a good secondary and good pass rush, those things jump off the tape,” Rivers said. “(Defensive end Cameron Wake) is as good as there is.”

The Chargers have to be as good as they were about a month back. If so, it’ll be a bye to embrace.

“Shoot; 6-3 after nine sounds pretty good,” Rivers said.