dallasnews
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Dallas Cowboys were not necessarily expected to leave Lambeau Field with a win on Sunday night, but few anticipated a performance that marked a new low in their string of defeats. For at least one evening, the offense caught up to the defense in futility, and it remains to be seen how long that trend will last.
In fact, the defense arguably delivered a stronger 60-minute effort than the highly touted offense as the Packers secured a 23-13 victory. Dallas won the coin toss and chose to receive rather than defer, signaling a desire to make an early statement with Dak Prescott and company before the defense faced its usual challenges. By halftime, however, the Cowboys trailed 17-0 and had managed just five first downs. So much for that statement.
As the game progressed, the Dallas defense improved. The unit sacked Jordan Love three times and recorded its first interception of the season. Linebacker Dee Winters returned that pick 42 yards for a touchdown, but replay review determined he was touched after making the catch, negating the score. The offense then had a chance to tie the game, but Prescott's first of two interceptions ended the drive. The second came after a slip by CeeDee Lamb, capping a generally unproductive night for Prescott and the entire offense.
Before Sunday night, the Cowboys' losses had followed a common pattern: they came in close games (eight-point defeats to New York and Tampa Bay, a three-point loss to Baltimore) and featured a defense as inept as last year's record-breaking unit. Even the Tampa Bay game, a relatively low-scoring 24-16 affair, saw an undrafted rookie quarterback lead the Buccaneers to their first win of the season at AT&T Stadium. The Packers, however, are a different story. Jordan Love has been one of the league's best quarterbacks this season and has consistently performed well against Dallas. This may have been his least efficient night against the Cowboys, yet his start was special enough to give Green Bay early control.
On the Packers' opening 90-yard touchdown drive, Green Bay struggled to run the ball and committed enough penalties that Love threw for 109 yards through the air alone. He finished with 276 yards on 23-of-41 passing. The Packers entered the game with the worst third-down defense in the NFL but converted nine of 10 in the first half. Green Bay simply exists in a different world from the Cowboys right now. At 4-2, the Packers are tied with Chicago and chasing the undefeated Minnesota Vikings, while Detroit sits last in the NFC North at 3-2. The Lions would be effectively tied with the NFC East's first-place New York Giants (3-2-1).
The NFC East has not won a game in the last two weekends and likely will not win one Monday night when Washington faces unbeaten San Francisco. That is the only thing maintaining any whisper of a chance for the Cowboys. They remain tied with the Eagles and might even be favored in Philadelphia next Monday—crazy as that sounds—given all the players the home team is missing, including quarterback Jalen Hurts. But nothing in watching this team suggests it has a chance of playoffs, a .500 record, or anything of relevance in 2026.
The Cowboys' final drive of any consequence—trailing by 16 points in the middle of the fourth quarter—was fueled almost solely by Packers penalties. They roughed the passer twice (once after what would have been Prescott's third interception) and committed an illegal contact penalty that turned a third-down incompletion into another first down. But on Dak's final pass of that drive—a fourth-and-11 at the 14—he heaved it at the goal post where no one had any chance of making a catch. Prescott finished with 34 completions in 54 attempts for 258 yards (less than 5 yards per throw). His only touchdown came with 44 seconds to play, a 7-yard pass to Ryan Flournoy. The 2-point conversion failed, ending any hope of the most miraculous comeback one might imagine.
It was a frustrating performance against a team that has won enormous playoff games here against Dallas, dating back to the Ice Bowl at the end of the 1967 season. The Packers own the modern Cowboys like no one else. Green Bay is 11-1-1 against the Cowboys since the 2009 season. That's a long run of futility. But most of the Cowboys' efforts were more inspired than Sunday's performance, which gave the club consecutive losses for the first time this season. One hesitates to suggest it will be the last time.
Key Analysis
The Cowboys' offensive shortcomings were laid bare in Green Bay, as the unit failed to capitalize on a defense that kept the team within striking distance. Prescott's two interceptions and the inability to convert on third down (the Cowboys were just 2-of-11 on the night) proved costly. Meanwhile, the Packers' efficiency on third down (9-of-10 in the first half) and Love's ability to extend drives underscored the gap between the two teams. With the NFC East struggling, Dallas remains mathematically alive, but the performance raised serious questions about the team's trajectory.
Originally reported by dallasnews.