After re-watching the Crew’s 3-0 Saturday loss to the Montreal Impact, coach Gregg Berhalter said it “stings a little bit” to observe his team control the early stages of the match before falling in a 2-0 hole by halftime.

“For us, it’s a learning experience,” he said Monday. “You hate to say it this late in the year, but that’s what it was. It was an exercise in patience, an exercise in breaking down a compact defense and then if things don’t go your way, how do you react? Can you hang in there mentally?”

Crew SC will have two weeks to try to learn something from the lopsided defeat, to regroup after failing for the second straight week to clinch a playoff spot.

Over the weekend, those shortcomings came at a cost. The Crew stayed at 48 points while the Philadelphia Union drummed Minnesota United 5-1 to jump to 50 points and move into fourth place. For the first time since June, the Crew began the week in an Eastern Conference standings position other than fourth.

With two games to play, there’s only one nightmare scenario for the Crew. If Montreal wins its final two games against Toronto FC and the New England Revolution, Crew SC loses to both Orlando City and Minnesota and D.C. United goes 2-1-1 or better in its last four, the Crew will be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

That’s a highly unlikely set of outcomes – FiveThirtyEight still gives the Crew a greater than 99 percent chance of making the playoffs – but the range of finishing positions for Crew SC is third through seventh with two games remaining.

To clinch a playoff spot on Oct. 21, the Crew simply needs a win over Orlando. With a tie or loss, the Crew can still clinch if Montreal posts a tie or loss against Toronto.

Third place is only possible if the Crew wins its last two, NYCFC loses its last two and Philadelphia goes 1-1-0, 0-1-1 or 0-2-0 in its last two.

The Crew can reclaim fourth place over its last two games by going 1-1-0 while Philadelphia finishes 0-2-0, going 1-0-1 while Philadelphia goes 0-1-1 or worse or going 2-0-0 while the Union goes 1-1-0 or worse.

To hang on to fifth place, the Crew will likely need to guarantee its finish ahead of both Montreal and D.C. United. To top Montreal, the Crew either needs two points over its next two games or for Montreal to drop any points over its final two matchdays. To finish ahead of D.C., the Crew needs: a 2-0-0 finish if D.C. wins its last four, a 1-0-1 finish or better if D.C. finishes 3-0-1 (assuming D.C. maintains a higher goal differential), a 1-1-0 finish if D.C. finishes 3-1-0, two points over two games if D.C. goes 2-0-2, a point over two games if D.C. goes 2-1-1 or zero points if D.C. goes 2-2-0 or worse.

The postseason possibilities are many, but the Crew will have to wait until Oct. 21 to see how they start to unfold.

Handball

Montreal protested after an Alejandro Silva cross from the right side of the box was deadened by the left arm of Josh Williams around the half-hour mark.

A few moments later, referee Alan Kelly initiated video review, after which he awarded a penalty kick to Montreal. Saphir Taider made the penalty kick to give the Impact a 1-0 lead.

Berhalter likened it to a play in the Crew’s 3-1 loss to Atlanta earlier this year in which Atlanta’s Jeff Larentowicz used his arm to stop a Justin Meram cross in the box.

No penalty was awarded. Instead, a Jeff Larentowicz clearance led to a Hector Villalba goal in transition on the other end.

“Very, very similar to the play in Atlanta,” Berhalter said. “For me, it’s very hard to see how they give that a penalty (but not in Atlanta). But listen, it happens.”

Gut punch

The penalty was a tough first goal to give up, but a 1-0 first half deficit would not have been insurmountable.

The tone changed considerably, however, when Silva used his shooting line to strike home another goal and give the Impact a 2-0 lead right before halftime.

“I think it was difficult. It wasn’t ideal to give up a goal right before halftime, for sure,” Berhalter said. “The way I see it is I think everything was under control. We had a game plan to keep the ball and wait for our chances, wait for them to get out of position and then make them pay and we did that a couple times in the first half.

Then, Berhalter said, the Crew lost patience, which fueled Montreal.

“We got guys got moving out of position, trying to get the ball in difficult positions and we lost the ball and … that part I was disappointed in,” he said.

This time last year

Crew SC’s 32nd game of the 2017 season was a 2-0 win over D.C. United in which midfielder Justin Meram scored a cushion goal in the 56th minute.

The win allowed the Crew to clinch its third playoff spot in four seasons.

“We made a statement early on in the game that we were here to play,” Berhalter said after the game. “The way I classify this is a real professional performance. With everything on the line, I’m happy with it.”

Berhalter didn’t bring up a bad 2016 season much without prompting in 2017, but acknowledged clinching a playoff berth allowed the Crew to move on from its worst season under Berhalter.

Crew SC surged to earn a playoff berth on Oct. 19, 2014 and had its most breathing room in 2015, when the team clinched Sept. 19. The earliest the Crew can claim a playoff spot now is Oct. 21 when it travels to Orlando City.

aerickson@dispatch.com

@AEricksonCD