The Dallas Cowboys have officially been eliminated from the NFL playoffs

The Cowboys have officially been eliminated from the NFC playoffs.

Before Dallas could play the field Sunday night against Tampa Bay, a 36-33 win by the Washington Commanders in Philadelphia mathematically eliminated the Cowboys.

According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Dallas entered the week with a less than 1% chance of making the playoffs. Dallas needed Washington to lose while the Cowboys won to even have a chance to clinch the seventh seed.

Things would have been a little more interesting if the Cowboys had beaten the Bengals a few weeks ago on Monday Night Football and entered Week 16 at 7-7. But alas, they sit at 6-8 and needed even more help to get in.

This will be the first postseason the Cowboys have missed since 2020, Mike McCarthy’s first season as head coach, which was hampered by a season-ending lower-body injury to starting quarterback Dak Prescott. Does that sound familiar?

Dallas went 12-5 each year for the next three seasons, but claimed just one postseason victory in that time.

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