ARLINGTON — This is how the end looks: Dak Prescott, frustrated, taking hits, looking lost, coming up with zero touchdown passes on 34 attempts while J.J. McCarthy, in his eighth NFL start, throws for his most yards (250) and by far his most yards per attempt (10.4) along with trotting into the Cowboys’ end zone for the easiest rushing touchdown of the season.
This is how the end sounds: Fans chanting “SKOL” with three minutes to play before Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer comes across the field moments later to tell Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores that he got the best of him tonight.
The Vikings are going nowhere this season at 6-8, but their 34-26 victory at AT&T Stadium Sunday night means the same — fundamentally — for Dallas. Technically, the Cowboys were eliminated from the wild-card race Sunday because their best possible record (9-7-1) could only catch Green Bay for the final spot, but the Packers’ superior conference record would give them the tiebreaker. As for the NFC East, the Cowboys would need to win their last three games while the Eagles lose to Buffalo and to Washington twice.
Related
Cowboys
So it’s listed as Dallas having a 1 percent chance of making it, but landing Cooper Flagg in the lottery seems a whole lot simpler than the task the Cowboys are facing.
“I’m definitely surprised, definitely hurt, pissed off, frustrated,’’ Prescott said. “But all I can do is get better tomorrow.’’
Tomorrow — or next Sunday at noon technically — means the 10-4 LA Chargers coming to town. They ended the Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff hopes Sunday, not to mention Patrick Mahomes’ season when he tore the ACL in his left knee late in the game. But it’s hard to think ahead to that game when the Cowboys managed to let Minnesota score what looked like the final 17 points before a field goal in the final half-minute made it a 34-26 final.
The Cowboys were rocking and rolling the last time they played here. They defeated the Eagles and Chiefs four days apart. Came back from 21 behind against Philadelphia, but outgained and outplayed both teams by a wide margin.
Since that time, they have lost twice and surrendered 78 points in the process. The notion that the Cowboys had turned some major corner on defense now looks more like the product of playing a truly awful team (Las Vegas), along with two good teams (Eagles and Chiefs) that have struggled mightily on offense at times in 2025. Put the Cowboys against the Lions, and Detroit puts up 44. Giving up 34 to the Vikings here at home was even more embarrassing as McCarthy looked like the seasoned pro despite this being just his eighth NFL start.
Prescott has 10 years of starts under his belt (minus some games here and there for injuries), but this is the fifth time he can expect to be done when the regular season‘s final whistle blows. Of course, Dallas hasn’t been much of a playoff team when it did reach the postseason in his time (2-5), but back-to-back misses make one wonder where this team is truly headed.
George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb looked unstoppable as a duo just two weeks ago. Lamb had his catches to get him to 111 yards Sunday, but he has three touchdowns all season, just one TD grab against a winning team. Pickens, on six targets, caught just three balls for 33 yards and was less of a factor than Ryan Flournoy (4-for-40).
Schottenheimer would have been handing a game ball to Javonte Williams (15 carries, 91 yards, second quarter missed due to a shoulder injury) had Dallas won the game. But this defense doesn’t really stop people these days, so the Cowboys are back in the same boat, needing 30-plus to even consider the victory column.
If the Eagles beat Washington Saturday, then Dallas will be officially eliminated before taking the field against the Chargers. But it’s not like anyone is really kidding about their chances after this loss to Minnesota, one in which the Vikings had their second-biggest point total of the season.
“Unfortunately, this game came down to the fact of our inability in the red zone and some of the situational stuff (Dallas was 2-for-12 on third down), and we weren’t very good on defense. I’m frustrated we didn’t find a way to get this game done,’’ Schottenheimer said. “We‘re better than that. I’m better than that.
“I really do think this, I think we are beating ourselves quite a bit, and that starts with us as a coaching staff. We never really got to the point where I felt like we were able to seize momentum.‘’
There’s not much left to seize now. With the tie against Green Bay, the Cowboys aren’t going to finish above .500 without winning all three remaining games. That’s not considering the possibility of a second tie, but that feels kind of preposterous to think about. The Cowboys looked like a team going somewhere when they took down the Eagles and Chiefs.
But the NFC North, with a 3-0-1 record against Dallas, wiped out all rational hopes for the season Sunday night. The North, traditionally, has been a division all about toughness. But with Matt Eberflus’ defense serving up 149 points (37.2 per game) to the Bears, Packers, Lions and Vikings, maybe that’s where the entirety of the Cowboys’ focus should be when the club starts looking, sooner than anticipated, towards 2026.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.