How the Cowboys can be eliminated from playoff contention in Week 15

When the Dallas Cowboys took an embarrassing 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football back in Week 11, upping their losing streak to five, the chances of America's Team making the postseason for a fourth consecutive season were essentially non-existent.

At 3-7, Dallas was already well out of the NFC East race, as the Philadelphia Eagles were 8-2. And with the Washington Commanders holding the final wild-card slot in the NFC at 7-4, even reaching the No. 7 slot in the conference seemed like a pipe dream.

But then the Cowboys did something they've done so many times in the nearly three decades since they last won a Super Bowl. They gave fans hope.

In Week 12, they went into Washington and earned a 34-26 upset victory over the Commanders. Four days later, they upped their record to 5-7 with a 27-20 Thanksgiving win over the New York Giants.

The postseason was still a long shot but it was doable. And for a brief moment this past Monday, it seemed as if the Cowboys were going to pick up a third straight victory against the Cincinnati Bengals, which would have put them just two back of Washington for the No. 7 seed.

But just as this team has given fans hope over the last 30 years, those hopes have been dashed every single time, and it happened yet again the moment Amani Oruwariye attempted to recover that blocked punt. We won't go through the sequence again or the events that followed, as we all know the Bengals ultimately took a 27-20 victory.

While the Cowboys aren't technically out of the playoff hunt just yet, they're now three games behind Washington, who's now 8-5, for that final spot with four weeks remaining in the regular season and would also need to surpass five other teams.

So, simply put, Dallas is done, and that can finally be made official this Sunday.

A Cowboys loss and a Commanders win knocks Dallas out of the playoff hunt

The formula here is quite simple.

If the Cowboys lose their Week 15 road matchup with the Carolina Panthers and the Commanders defeat or tie the New Orleans Saints, Dallas is out. A Cowboys tie combined with a Washington win also does the trick.

That's literally it, as those are the only two scenarios in play for Mike McCarthy's club.

If both win or both lose, the Cowboys stave off elimination, but that would just be delaying the inevitable.

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