Sent Packing: Cowboys 10 Worst Early Playoff Exits
FRISCO - Yeah, it is on the Dallas Cowboys list. An infamous list. But where does their (misleadingly close) 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs rank in the all-time annals of "America's Team'' "10 Worst Early Playoff Exits''?
Allow me to be your guide through a painful history lesson ...
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Know that the Cowboys have played 64 seasons, and all but five of them have ended with a loss. But this one especially stings. Because of the expectations. Because of the embarrassment.
After another 12-5 regular season filled with individual superlatives that netted them the No. 2 seed in the NFC Playoffs and a home game against the 9-8 Packers, the Cowboys leave the 2023 season with the same number of wins as the 2-15 Carolina Panthers.
Other than FS1 actor Skip Bayless - whose fake, scripted "temper tantrum" is accentuated by a "knock" cue and belongs in the WWE - the anger of Cowboys Nation is real. Michael Irvin yelled at the Cowboys to "clean house." And some of us spent the day admitting a colossal in insanely predicting a blowout - of the Cowboys over the Packers.
Let's exclude Super Bowl losses and defeats in the NFC/NFL Championship Game, because those are inherently gut punches. That means we're leaving out the "Ice Bowl" at Lambeau Field, the last-second field goal against the Baltimore Colts, Jackie Smith's dropped touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers and "The Catch" in San Francisco.
The Cowboys Worst 10 Early Playoff Exits ...
10. 2008: at Eagles 44, Cowboys 6 - In a de facto NFC East championship game, they are blown out to finish a disappointing 9-7 despite adding Pacman Jones as a supposed "missing piece" to a 13-3 team from the previous season.
9. 1985: at Rams 20, Cowboys 0 - A 10-6, division-championship season comes to a jarring halt as they surrender 248 yards rushing to Eric Dickerson.
8. 1979: Rams 21, at Cowboys 19 - 11-5 division champs are upset at home as Roger Staubach's final "completion" goes to offensive lineman Herb Scott on the final, fatal drive.
7. 1998: Cardinals 20, at Cowboys 7 - Stunned, tearful crowd at Texas Stadium watches lifeless division champs trail 20-0 until the waning minutes of the final playoff game with Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Irvin together.
6. 2016: Packers 34, at Cowboys 31 - Aaron Rodgers converts an unlikely 3rd-and-20 to set up a 51-yard field goal on the final play to dramatically spoil a 13-3 season in the rookie seasons of Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott.
5. 2023: Packers 48, at Cowboys 32 - 16-game home winning streak ends with a humiliating thud as MVP candidate Prescott throws two first-half interceptions and the 12-5 division champs trail by as many as 32 and cough up the most points by an opponent in franchise postseason history.
4. 2021: 49ers 23, at Cowboys 17 - Prescott runs a quarterback draw to seemingly get the Cowboys in position for one final play, but can't spike the ball before the clock runs out on a 12-5, division-championship season.
3. 2006: at Seahawks 21, Cowboys 20 - Tony Romo's infamous bobbled hold of a perfect snap blows a chance for a chip-shot field goal and a late lead in the Wild Card game. This one forces coach Bill Parcells into retirement.
2. 2014: at Packers 26, Cowboys 21 - Dez Bryant's apparent touchdown catch with four minutes remaining is reversed into a fourth-down incompletion. It's the closest the Cowboys have been to an NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season.
1. 2007: Giants 21, at Cowboys 17 - Armed with a 13-3 record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, they lose to a New York team they beat twice during the regular season when Romo is intercepted in the end zone in the final seconds.
