Cowboys fall to Vikings

By Elwyn Henderson

The 6-6-1 Dallas Cowboys, clinging to their very small hopes of making the 2025 NFL playoffs, hosted the 5-8 Minnesota Vikings Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, knowing their only hope of getting into the postseason was to win out over their final four games and get some help.

When the final seconds ticked off the clock the final nail was put in the coffin and the 92,991 fans in attendance saw their team go down by the score of 34-26.

Dallas won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. Brandon Aubrey kicked the ball away and it was returned up to the 30 and JJ McCarthy led the Vikings on the field to get the game underway.

On the second play of the possession a McCarthy pass was tipped and Quinnen Williams intercepted the ball and the Dallas offense set up for their first possession in excellent field position at the plus 35.

Dak Prescott and the offense couldn’t get a first down so Aubrey was called out to attempt a 47-yard field goal. To everyone’s surprise the holder tossed the ball over his right shoulder to Aubrey who picked up a first down to keep the drive alive. The trick play resulted in the Cowboys getting into the end zone for a touchdown when Javonte Williams ran into the end zone from the 1 with 8:23 left in the first quarter. Aubrey split the uprights on the PAT kick and Dallas took a quick 7-0 lead. The drive was 11 plays, 35 yards and took 5:39.

On their ensuing possession after the score the Vikings picked up one first down and then had to punt the ball away. Ryan Wright hit a booming 69-yard kick that was downed at the Dallas 3.

It was a quick three-and-out for the offense and Bryan Anger came in for his initial punt of the game. The kick was fair caught at the Vikings 47 and McCarthy and his troops came back on the field.

The visitors scored on a 20-yard TD pass from McCarthy to Jalen Nailor with 2:35 left in the quarter. Will Reichard added the extra point and the game was tied 7-7. The drive was 2 plays, 53 yards and took just 33 seconds off the clock.

Dallas got the ball back and Prescott led the offense straight down the field and into the end zone for their second TD of the night. The score came on the first play of the second quarter when Malik Davis ran into the end zone from the 2 with 14:52 left in the first half. Aubrey’s extra point kick was good and Dallas took the lead back, 14-7. The drive was a 6-play, 73-yard drive that consumed 2:43.

Minnesota began their next drive at their 25 after a short kickoff return. Dallas got caught in a busted coverage and McCarthy hit Jordan Addison on a 58-yard strike down to the Dallas 4. On a 4th and goal McCarthy faked the entire Dallas defense out and ran around the left end untouched for a 1-yard TD with 9:28 left in the first half.  Reichard kicked the extra point and the game was tied again at 14-14. The drive was 10 plays 75 yards and took 5:24 off the second quarter clock.

Dallas got a good drive going on their next possession but the offense stalled and Aubrey came in to try a 51-yard field goal on 4th down. In an unusual result, the kick trailed wide right and was no good and Minnesota got the ball back at their 41 with 5:51 left in the first half of play.

McCarthy led the Vikes down to the Dallas 11 and on 4th and 10 Reichard nailed a 29-yard field goal with 1:48 left in the half to give the visitors their first lead of the game, 17-14. The drive was 8 plays, 48 yards and took 4:03.

Reichard’s kickoff after the field goal went out of bounds, giving Dallas the ball at their 40 yard line with a chance to either tie the score or take the lead before halftime.

The ‘Boys managed to get into field goal range and Aubrey tied the game 17-17 when Aubrey hit a 37-yard field goal with 3 seconds left in the first half. The drive was 10 plays, 41 yards and took 1:45.

The Vikings returned the kick after the score to their 22 as the first half ended.

Dallas received the second half kickoff and KaVonte Turpin returned the ball up to the Dallas 42 where Prescott and company took the field for their first possession of the second half.

The offense moved the ball down to the 8 and on 4th and 7 Aubrey came in for a 26-yard field goal. The kick was good and Dallas took the lead again by a 20-17 score. The 7-play, 50-yard drive took 3:56.

The next possession for Minnesota resulted in a punt and Dallas set up on their 10 where the offense went back to work. They moved down to the Vikings 23 where Aubrey booted a 41-yard field goal with 4:50 left in the third frame, increasing the Cowboys lead to 23-17. The drive was an 8-play, 67-yard affair that took 5:20 off the third quarter clock.

The Vikings moved right down the field on their next possession and took the lead back when CJ Ham ran into the end zone from the 2 and after Reichard’s extra point kick Minnesota led 24-23 with 1:12 left in the third quarter. The drive was 8 plays 73 yards and took 3:38.

Dallas began their next drive at their 35 after a touchback. They drove to the Vikings 41 and on 4th down Aubrey came back in to try to give the Cowboys the lead again but for the second time on the day the kick was wide right and the visitors took over on their 49 razor thin lead.

McCarthy led the team down the field and into the end zone with 9:12 left in the game. The score came on a 4-yard TD pass to Nailor. The point after was good and the Cowboys found them on the wrong end of a 31-23 score.

Prescott led the team down to the 45 but on a 4th and 7 the offense fell short by one yard and Minnesota took over at their 39 with 5:30 left in the game and in excellent position to put the game on ice.

They did just that as Reichard kicked a 53-yard field goal with1:08 left in the game, putting the visitors up 34-23. The drive was 10 plays, 26 yards and took 4:22.

The ensuing kickoff went out of the end zone and Dallas set up at their 35 with no time outs left.

The offense moved down to the Minnesota 22 and with 23 seconds left Aubrey came out to try a 42-yard field goal. The kick was good, cutting the deficit to 34-26 with just 19 seconds left in the game. The drive was 5 plays, 42 yards and took 49 seconds.

Dallas attempted an onside kick but the Vikings recovered at the Cowboys 45. They ran one play out of the victory formation and the game was over. Minnesota moved to 6-8 with the win while Dallas dropped to 6-7-1 with the loss.

When Coach Brian Shottenheimer met with the media after the game he was asked now that the playoffs are not going to happen this season what the team’s goal is for the final three games.

 

“Yeah, the goal is to wake up tomorrow – watch the film tonight – wake up tomorrow, coach these guys up and we’re going to control what we can control. Disappointing, we didn’t find a way to win this game. I knew this would be a game like that. I wasn’t surprised by that. Kevin’s (O’Connell) a great coach. Brian’s (Flores) a great coach. Unfortunately, this game came down to the fact of our inability really in the red zone and some of the situational stuff. We weren’t very good on defense on fourth down, we forced I think three fourth downs and they converted a bunch of those. And at the end of the day, when you play a team like this you got to be really on top of your situational stuff. And we weren’t.”

When Dak Prescott came in for his presser after the disappointing loss he was asked what the range of emotions were after these past few days and the team falling below 500 again.

 

“Yeah, I mean shitty at this point. [It’s] hard to even go back to those highs. You beat two good teams; beat the two Super Bowl teams here in a matter of what, eight or nine days, something like that. Then, you go on the road and have to play a really good team and they got the better end of us last week. And as I said, if we played that game 10 times, it might be 5-5 or 6-4, who knows which way? That’s kind of that matchup last week. We didn’t do things necessary to win, didn’t score in the red zone and coming into this game, we couldn’t get an answer for cover zero and we didn’t score in the red zone. You add those two things together and you’re going to lose by I guess at the end of it by eight. And yeah, it’s unfortunate, it sucks, but it’s the reality of the NFL. This shit’s hard.”

The Cowboys will close out their 2025 season home schedule next Sunday with a noon game at AT&T Stadium against the Los Angeles Chargers. Then they will go on the road against the Washington Commanders and the New York Giants to close out yet another dismal and disappointing season.