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Micah Parsons Walked Off Field Early As the Cowboys' Playoff Hopes Got Even Slimmer

Parsons and the Cowboys now sit at 5-8 on the year.

Kyle Koster

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons had to endure another crushing loss.
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons had to endure another crushing loss. / @ESPN
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The Dallas Cowboys are slogging through another season that seems destined for failure. A 3-7 start out of the gates, combined with the loss of quarterback Dak Prescott put them in position to need a miracle to somehow sneak into the NFC playoff bracket. Two straight wins and a relatively competent Cooper Rush allowed them to enter Monday night's matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals with a glimmer of hope but once again Jerry Jones's prized side failed to make enough plays and suffered a 27-20 defeat to fall to 5-8 on the year.

As the Bengals melted away the final seconds, Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons took a dejected solo walk to the locker room in leiu of sticking around for postgame pleasantries. Which, of course, is perfectly fine. Parsons is a competitor and his comments to the media after the loss showed that he was very emotional about the serious injury suffered by his teammate DeMarvion Overshown.

Still, it's yet another indelible image summing up a year that's gone awry, often on the sport's biggest stages.

“This one hurt me more than any loss this year, probably even worse than a playoff loss to be honest, because of where we were going, how we were playing, playing good football,” Parsons told the media postgame. “I’m going to sit on this, but I have to find a way to keep these guys alive. There’s still football to be had. There’s still openings to be had. We have to take advantage of every opportunity the rest of the way. We can’t let these type of games slip away like we did today.”

Dallas must now win its final four games and get a tremendous amount of help from other NFC contenders to somehow make it into the postseason field. Considering how things are going it likley won't be too long until they are statistically and officially eliminated.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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