The Dallas Cowboys were unbeaten at home this season heading into Monday night's game with the Arizona Cardinals. They were hoping to keep it that way, too, especially with quarterback Kyler Murray out and replaced by long-time journeyman Jacoby Brissett.

But getting back to .500 was quickly out of the question, because the Cardinals never trailed and cruised to a 27-17 victory at AT&T Stadium in a game that wasn't nearly that close. A late Cowboys touchdown in the final two minutes was as irrelevant as they come.

The Cowboys had three turnovers, allowed five sacks and failed to score twice in the red zone. Anything that could go wrong did, and now they are 3-5-1 on the season. A playoff spot seems so far away now after an ugly night that all of America was forced to witness on Monday Night Football.

Here's the full game story from Cowboys Roundtable writer Patrick Allen. 

Wheels Come All the Way off in Cowboys’ Week 9 Primetime Loss to Cardinals The offense sputters, defense collapses. It's time for Dallas to strip down and rebuild, selling parts for future picks.

At 3-5-1, there are 10 teams ahead of the Cowboys in the NFC playoff race. Only seven make it, and it's looking more and more like Dallas won't be one of them for the second straight year. Unless something drastic happens before the trade deadline on Tuesday, this team just isn't good enough to make any postseason noise.

"We've won three ballgames and here we are with this juncture," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters after the loss. "So, I do know how to add. I mean, I'm not trying to be trite, but I can add it up and look at the numbers of games we've got left and what potential combinations of records could get you in the playoffs.

"We have all that down real good."

What makes this challenge especially difficult is that the back half of their schedule is much harder than the first half. They have to get to nine wins to have a shot at the postseason, and that looks overly challenging.

Here's what remains for the Cowboys after a bye week:

• Nov. 17 (Mon.) — at Las Vegas Raiders
• Nov. 23 (Sun.) — vs. Philadelphia Eagles
• Nov. 27 (Thurs.) — vs. Kansas City Chiefs
• Dec. 4 (Thurs.) — at Detroit Lions
• Dec. 14 (Sun.) — vs. Minnesota Vikings
• Dec. 21 (Sun.) — vs. Los Angeles Chargers
• Dec. 25 (Thurs.) — at Washington Commanders
• Jan. 3.4 (Flex) — at New York Giants 

You see six wins in there? Doubtful, right? Especially with three games in 11 days here in late November, and another quick turnaround during Christmas week.

They have four road games left, and we can't forget that they are 1-4 on the road this year, with the only win against the hapless New York Jets. 

Maybe the real deal is that they just aren't very good. Since the start of the 2024 season, the Cowboys are 10-15-1, a whopping five games under .500.

By the way, props to the Cardinals too for playing a heck of a game. Their defense was relentles and Brissett was steady throughout, completing 21 of 31 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns. They also rushed for 119 yards.

Brissett is 32 years old and has played for six different teams in six years. But he helped snapped Arizona's five-game losing streak. The Cardinals' next game is Sunday at Seattle.

Tom Brew is the National Editor-in-Chief at Roundtable Sports. You can follow him in Twitter (X) @tombrewsports

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