In the end, the same issues that Dallas faced behind the eight ball came to a head Thursday night, ending the Cowboys’ winning streak and putting their season on life support.
“I think guys are angry right now,” Dak Prescott said after a 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions, via the team’s official website. “I don’t think it’s some blown-out moment like, ‘Oh, hands up, we’re done.’ No, no, not at all. I think you’re going to get a team that’s frustrated, especially since we’re talking about a team that’s changed since the bye week.”
The Cowboys went to Detroit on a three game hot streak. Including wins over the Eagles and Chiefs. On Thursday, however, the defense returned to not being able to get the stops early in the season, the offense turned the ball over and another key player (CeeDee Lamb) went down with an injury.
The Cowboys’ defense allowed 40-plus points for the third time in a season, tying the team’s single-season record (1960, 1962, 2013, 2024).
In the previous three games, they had allowed 21.7 points per game, 312.3 yards, two all-purpose TDs and had 2.7 sacks. Thursday, a vicious extra play fell 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 rushing TDs and one sack of Jared Goff on Thursday.
“Man, we’re way better than [allowing] 44 points,” freshman Quinnen Williams said. “Man, we’ve got a great defense. We’ve got a great defensive line, and we’ve got to do our job to the best of our ability, and execute, as well as we can, and just make more plays — especially in that D-line room. We’ve got the ability to do that.”
The Lions scored on eight of 11 non-kneeling drives, punted just twice and had one field goal blocked. Five of those eight scoring drives ended in bankruptcy.
While the defense went wild, the offense turned the ball over three times and had several more stops. Dallas scored just once, settling for five field goals.
“You can’t win a game by losing it, not in the NFL, and not against a team like this, where you’re down three on turnovers, it’s that simple…,” Prescott said. “We’ve got to stop this. I know I’ve had interceptions the last three games or so, so obviously two tonight, who cares whose fault it is?”
The loss dashed the Cowboys’ playoff hopes. With three straight wins, a win in Detroit could have made Dallas a legitimate postseason contender. Now they are barely alive. At 6-6-1, 10th in the NFC, the Cowboys are shooting just 7% in the postseason, according to Next Generation Stats. They have a 4% chance to win the league, need the Eagles. Those odds could be further reduced by Sunday’s results.
“At this point, I don’t know if I can say that we control our own destiny,” Prescott said. “I know you couldn’t say it before, but I’m pretty sure if we won, we were going to have a pretty good record, only five losses and one draw… we need things to happen for us, I don’t think it’s in our control at this point. But what we can do is control how we approach this game.”
Their postseason schedule remains soft, with games against the Vikings, Chargers, Commanders and Giants. However, even getting to 10 wins will feel hollow if they sit at home in January.