Manic Monday: Cowboys' 10 Most Gut-Wrenching Losses
There have been larger leads. There have been bigger stakes.
But rarely in the 64-season history of the Dallas Cowboys has there been a more epic, excruciating regular-season loss than Sunday afternoon in Green Bay.
All across DFW dogs may felt the wrath of shoes. And inside Lambeau Field there was a violent funeral for a particular headset.
It is, in fact, the first time in franchise history the Cowboys lost a game when leading by 14+ points entering the fourth quarter. It is, in fact, one of the most devastating regular-season defeats in franchise history.
We're talking about America's Team, which has its share of highs via five Super Bowls. But also a litany of lows
The Cowboys have been on the wrong side of "The Catch", a walk-off field goal in Super Bowl V, a bobbled hold in a Wild Card loss, a last-second touchdown in the "Ice Bowl", an interception in the end zone of a four-point playoff loss as the NFC's No. 1 seed, a potential game-winning catch overturned into one of the NFL's most infamous incompletions and, just last season, a quarterback spike that was a nanosecond too late in a home playoff loss.
There have been bigger stages. But not bigger choke jobs.
The Cowboys led, 28-14, and had the Packers facing 4th-and-7 at Dallas' 39-yard line with 13 minutes remaining. At the time you, me and history just knew they were going to win, as they were 195-0 with a two-touchdown lead heading into the final 15 minutes. (In the 2011 season opener they took a 24-10 lead on the New York Jets on the first play of the fourth quarter before going on to lose, 27-24.)
On their fourth-down play, however, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers dropped back to pass and - without even a hint of pressure from the NFL's most productive pass rush - took his time to find a streaking Christian Watson for a 39-yard touchdown that changed the tenor of the game and set into motion the biggest collapse in Cowboys' history.
Football pass-rushes are akin to a good baseball closer, called upon to snuff out any hope of a rally by the opposing offense. But after getting to Rodgers early and having success harassing quarterbacks all season, the Cowboys' defense went impotent while trying to nurse a 14-point lead to the finish line.
After trailing 28-14, Rodgers dropped back to pass 11 times without anything close to being sacked. For one of the first times in the last two seasons Cowboys fans were left wondering "Where's Micah?!"
The Cowboys' defense allowed season-highs in yards, rushing yards and points, despite Rodgers completing only 14 passes.
It's of little solace on a somber, rainy, gray Monday in DFW, but Dallas' debacle does have company - if not precedent. A look the Cowboys' 10 most gut-wrenching, come-from-ahead losses in the regular season:
10. 2008: Ravens 33, at Cowboys 24 - Needing a win to clinch the playoffs in its final game at Texas Stadium, Dallas mounts a fourth-quarter comeback but loses by allowing jaw-dropping touchdown runs of 77 and 82 yards in the final four minutes.
9. 1991: at Oilers 26, Cowboys 23 - A rare Emmitt Smith fumble at Houston's 18-yard line in overtime sets up the Oilers' winning drive at the Astrodome.
8. 2005: Washington 14, at Cowboys 13 - Ruining the Ring-of-Honor tri-induction of Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Smith at Texas Stadium, Redskins' receiver Santana Moss erases Dallas' 13-0 lead with touchdown catches of 39 and 70 yards in the final four minutes.
7. 2022: at Packers 31, Cowboys 28 - Green Bay scores the game's final 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including the game-winning field goal after coach Mike McCarthy bypasses a 52-yard field goal attempt for a failed 4th-and-3.
6. 2013: Packers 37, at Cowboys 36 - After building a 23-point halftime lead, Cowboys run the ball only eight times in second half and lose when two of Tony Romo's final three passes are intercepted.
5. 2011: at Cardinals 19, Cowboys 13 - Dan Bailey makes an apparent game-winning field goal from 49 yards on the game's final play, only to learn coach Jason Garrett called a timeout to ensure a “smooth operation” on the kick. Bailey's ensuing attempt dies left and short to force overtime, in which Arizona’s LaRod Stephens-Howling takes a screen pass to the house from 52 yards.
4. 1965: at Washington 34, Cowboys 31 - A 21-0 lead on Thanksgiving in D.C. dissolves as Redskins' quarterback Sonny Jurgenson throws for three touchdowns and runs for another and Danny Villanueva's potential game-tying field goal is blocked on the final play.
3. 1988: at Eagles 24, Cowboys 23 - Dallas falls to 2-6 in coach Tom Landry's final season, wasting a 20-0 lead and losing on Randall Cunningham's 1-yard touchdown pass with four seconds remaining.
2. 2011: Lions 34, at Cowboys 30 - Dallas endures its biggest blown lead ever - 27-3 - as Romo throws two third-quarter Pick Sixes and Calvin Johnson catches a clinching touchdown with 1:39 remaining.
1. 1996: Colts 25, at Cowboys 24 - Entering as 10-point favorites, the defending Super Bowl champs surrender a 21-3 lead and lose when Jim Harbaugh throws two late touchdowns and kicker Chris Boniol's 57-yard field goal bounces off the crossbar as time expires.
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