This Titanic disappointment of a Dolphins season hit the iceberg long ago and some fans started heading for the lifeboats by finding something else to do on Sundays even when they had paid tickets stamped to home games.

Those of us who didn’t or couldn’t get on the crowded boats, those of us who have witnessed the Dolphins stink at home game after frustrating home game, are getting angry. And that bears mentioning because the fans pay the freight and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, a fan and businessman, is also peeved and recognizes each home loss is money leaking from his team’s 2011 coffers.

So coach Tony Sparano has a choice now after Sunday’s fourth-quarter implosion and subsequent 34-27 upset loss to Detroit: Sparano can be a hero, go down with his ship and probably lose his job . . .

Or he can get off this sinking tug by doing and saying what the rest of us hope he thinks and does.

Sparano needs to go away from Chad Henne (again) before the anchor disguised as a quarterback takes the coach with him to the bottom. And he has to disavow that ridiculous approach of playing not to lose.

Both Henne and that failed, flawed strategy fed Miami to the Lions on Sunday.

The quarterback, occasionally golden but fool’s gold under scrutiny, failed again this day.

He was great in the first half, completing 15 of 21 passes with a touchdown and no major mistakes, and the Dolphins appropriately carried a 17-14 lead into halftime. The touchdown pass, by the way, should have been intercepted and probably was a gift because Davone Bess seemed to have a foot out of bounds.

But, whatever, it counted and it was good enough until Henne’s play started getting shaky in the third quarter when he threw a pass Nathan Vasher looked ready to intercept but didn’t.