In the end, the same issues that got Dallas behind the eight-ball reared their head Thursday night, ending the Cowboys' winning streak and putting their season on life support.
"I think guys are pissed off right now,” Dak Prescott said following a 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions, via the team’s official website. “I don't think this is any deflated moment like, 'Oh, hands are up, we're done.' No, no, absolutely not. I think you're going to get a team that's pissed, especially as we talk about a team that's kind of changed since the bye week."
The Cowboys went to Detroit on a three-game hot streak. Including wins over the Eagles and Chiefs. Thursday, however, the defense reverted to its early-season inability to get stops, the offense turned the ball over, and another key player (CeeDee Lamb) went down with injury.
The Cowboys' defense allowed 40-plus points for the third time this season, tying the team's single-season record (1960, 1962, 2013, 2024).
In the previous three games, they’d allowed 21.7 points per game, 312.3 yards, two total rush TDs and generated 2.7 sacks. Thursday, a struggling secondary got ripped apart, the line couldn’t keep Jahmyr Gibbs out of the end zone, and the pass rush always came too late. Dallas allowed 44 points, 408 total yards, four rush TDs and earned one sack of Jared Goff on Thursday.
“Man, we are way better than [allowing] 44 points," newcomer Quinnen Williams said. "Man, we've got a great defense. We've got a great defensive line, and we've gotta do our job to the best of our ability, and execute, to the best of our ability, and just make more plays — especially in this D-line room. We've got the ability to do it."
The Lions scored on eight of the 11 non-kneel drives, punting just twice and getting one field goal blocked. Five of those eight scoring drives ended in paydirt.
While the defense got dog-walked, the offense turned the ball over three times and stalled out several more. Dallas punted just once and settled for five field goals.
"You can't win a game losing that, not in the NFL, and not against a team like that, being minus three in the turnover battle, simple as that…" Prescott said. "We've got to stop that. I know I've had an interception the last three games or so, then obviously two tonight, who cares whose fault it is?"
The loss sank the Cowboys' playoff hopes. Coming off three consecutive wins, a win in Detroit could have made Dallas a legit postseason contender. Now, they’re barely alive. At 6-6-1, 10th in the NFC, the Cowboys have just a 7% shot at the postseason, per Next Gen Stats. They have a 4% chance to win the division, needing an Eagles collapse. Those probabilities could sink further depending on Sunday’s results.
"At this point, I don't know if I can say we control our own destiny," Prescott said. "I know it was not a stretch saying that before, but I'm pretty sure if we won out, we were going to have a pretty damn good record, only having five losses and one tie… we're going to need some things to happen for us, I don't think it's in our control at this point. But what we can do is control the way that we approach this game."
Their end-of-season slate remains soft, with games against the Vikings, Chargers, Commanders and Giants. However, even getting to 10 wins will feel hollow if they’re sitting home in January.