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The Dallas Cowboys may have suffered their most painful playoff loss in years.
Despite entering their wild card playoff game as seven-point favorites in a home matchup against the No. 7-seeded Green Bay Packers, the Cowboys are going home early. That’s because they were soundly defeated, 48-32, by the Packers, in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
Following their first loss at home since September of 2022, quarterback Dak Prescott had a simple one-word response to the team’s surprising defeat — he’s “shocked.”
Via Jon Machota of The Athletic:
“Cowboys QB Dak Prescott said he is ‘shocked’ by today’s wild card loss to the Packers,” wrote Machota on Sunday, January 14.
Dak Prescott on Performance in Loss: ‘I Sucked Tonight’
Prescott didn’t hold back regarding his performance in the defeat. While his final stat line looks productive — 403 passing yards and three touchdowns — he did so on 60 pass attempts because the Cowboys trailed the entire game. That’s also not including two costly interceptions he threw in the first half, one that directly led to a touchdown and another that led to a touchdown after being picked off at the Cowboys’ 13-yard line.
“I sucked tonight,” said Prescott after the game.
His two-interception game was his first multi-interception game since a Week 5 blowout against the San Francisco 49ers. Prior to Sunday’s game against the Packers, Prescott had done a tremendous job taking care of the football, ranking second in the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio this season.
This is following a year in which Prescott led the NFL in interceptions with 15 last season and had the highest interception percentage (3.5%) among quarterbacks.
However, Prescott’s regular season success — he also led the NFL in touchdowns with 36 and is an MVP candidate — is all for naught following another quick exit in the playoffs. His latest postseason loss means his record in the playoffs is now 2-5, the worst mark among all quarterbacks with at least five starts. Furthermore, he’s lost three of his four postseason starts at home.
The loss also extends the Cowboys’ conference championship game drought to 28 seasons, which is the fifth-worst among NFL franchises and the third-worst among NFC teams.
Mike McCarthy Could Be Fired After Latest Playoff Loss
With the Cowboys suffering yet another playoff disappointment, that means the biggest topic over the coming days will be whether or not Mike McCarthy returns as the team’s head coach for next season.
McCarthy had already been considered on the hot seat entering the 2023 season and while he did register another 12-win campaign during the regular season, he also turned in another quick playoff exit.
That means the Cowboys have failed to advance to a conference championship game in three consecutive years of 12-win seasons. They’re the first team in NFL history to accomplish that, according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
“The Cowboys are the first team in NFL history to win 12 games in three straight seasons and fail to make the conference championship in any of them,” writes Laine.
Despite the Cowboys’ disappointing loss, team owner Jerry Jones stresses that he has yet to make a decision.
Via Todd Archer of ESPN:
“I haven’t thought one second about it,” Jones said after the game. “I know how hard, how much it meant to our fans to advance. What this loss to me means, again, not how [or] why, who didn’t do what, all of that type of thing — the only thing on my mind almost this entire game was not an analysis of our strategy, not an analysis of our play, it was, ‘Do we get to play here again next week?’ And we can’t. That could have happened by a point or it could have happened the way it happened out there. That’s all I’ve thought about. It’s real.”
Prior to the game, ESPN’s Adam Schefter had reported that McCarthy’s future as the Cowboys’ head coach would hinge on how they finished their season during the playoffs. If they suffered an “embarrassing” loss, it could spell the end of McCarthy’s tenure after four seasons.
With Dallas suffering the definition of an “embarrassing” defeat to the NFL’s youngest team at home, McCarthy may be counting his last days as the head coach of the Cowboys.
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