ARLINGTON, TX — The playoffs were a distant goal for the Dallas Cowboys entering Monday night’s game but after their 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, their season is all but over.
A special teams mistake by Dallas late in the fourth quarter saw Cincinnati get the ball back after originally punting on 4th & 20, setting up Joe Burrow hitting Ja’Marr Chase for a game-winning 40-yard TD.
“I wasn’t really grasping what was going on. It was definitely a huge momentum shift,” Dallas linebacker Micah Parsons said. “That hurts.”
Dallas had one final chance but backup quarterback Cooper Rush was sacked twice and failed to convert on a 4th and 7 chance. The Cowboys finished the game with 322 total yards as Rush threw for 183 yards for touchdowns and one interception.
“Some of these situations, I don’t know if I’d say snowballing but I don’t know,” Parsons said. “It seems like we’re paying a due that’s not fair.”
Dallas held Burrow and the Bengals offense to 20 points until the final minutes as the Cowboys put themselves in a position to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. However, as this season as proved, things just could not go their way.
“I don’t know if it’s bad luck, karma, but in terms of our work ethic, everyone was working so hard. I think we really did well, we could’ve done a little bit better containing, I think we gave them some points,” Parsons added. “But you’re telling me we held Joe Burrow to 20 points with two minutes left, the way our offense was moving the ball, I think we can win the game.”
While the Cowboys aren’t technically eliminated from the playoffs, they will need to win out and have a lot of help from other teams to even be in consideration for a spot in the postseason.
