Sunday was absolutely terrible for the Dallas Cowboys. Not only did they lose to J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings, but former star Micah Parsons, a player whom many fans wish still had a star on his helmet, went down with a non-contact injury against the Broncos.
Initial testing indicated that Parsons suffered a torn ACL, but he needed to undergo an MRI on Monday to know for sure. Unfortunately, the preliminary evaluation was accurate: Parsons tore the ACL in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.
It's just an awful turn of events for Parsons, who was pacing for an All-Pro nod and a top-five finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting. It's also brutal for the Packers, which makes Dallas' loss to Minnesota sting even more.
Green Bay's loss to the Broncos on Sunday opened another path to the playoffs for the Cowboys. If they won out, and the Packers lost their final three games, Dallas would be in, as FanSided's Marcus Mosher laid out on X.
An alternate playoff path has opened up for the Cowboys.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) December 15, 2025
Dallas wins out. Green Bay loses out. Cowboys would be in.
Micah Parsons' injury makes Cowboys' loss to the Vikings hurt even more
While winning the NFC East was the Cowboys' most realistic path to the playoffs, Parsons' injury changes everything for the Packers, who have a difficult remaining schedule.
They play in Chicago next week, followed by a home game against the Ravens, before closing out on the road against the Vikings in Week 18. It's unlikely, but again, Parsons is the heartbeat of their defense. He makes everyone around him better and has helped close out some close wins this season with huge plays in the fourth quarter. That will sound familiar to Cowboys fans.
Who knows? Maybe the Packers rally and finish the season strong. Matt LaFleur is a great coach, and Jordan Love is playing at an MVP level. However, it's not hard to envision them letting go of the proverbial rope in the final three weeks. Losing a player of Parsons' caliber is bound to elicit some semblance of an emotional letdown.
But we’ll never know, because the Cowboys failed to beat a Vikings team that had been eliminated from playoff contention hours before kickoff and featured the worst quarterback play in the NFL.
A team that gets worked by J.J. McCarthy doesn’t belong in the playoffs, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Micah Parsons’ injury created an opening, and Dallas essentially said, “No thanks.”