Explosive plays, costly turnovers, and sloppy execution crippled the Cowboys. Their championship aspirations falter as focus disintegrates.
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys' bubble has burst.
And in a review of Thursday's 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, it's easy to pinpoint the three areas where coach Brian Schottenheimer's team failed.
Most disappointing is that the Cowboys, in dropping to 6-6-1 with what is now a slim 9-percent chance of making the playoffs, didn't give themselves the best chance at winning this football game.
My trio of pinpointed problems in three major areas?
One, they failed horribly at avoiding giving up explosive plays; Detroit totaled six of those over 25 yards.
Two, they proved Schotty right when he predicted that the team that won the turnover battle would win the game. Dallas fumbled three times and lost one of those to go with Dak's two interceptions.
And the Lions never turned over the ball at all.
Three, the idea of "focus over sloppiness'' - so key the recent back-to-back wins over Philly and KC - disappeared. Weird penalties and boneheaded decisions and George Pickens performing like this was a walkthrough drained Dallas of any chance to truly be competitive here.
Pop. Pop. Pop. The bubble bursts.
We saw constant short fields for the Lions, as special teams gave up big returns. The offense had costly penalties and turnovers. And the defense decided to revert to what it was early in the season, giving up a 40-burger.
Additionally, when it felt like the Cowboys were just starting to get momentum, a penalty or a quick Lions scoring drive would rip it away.
And that is what Schottenheimer dislikes the most.
"Thought they played hard, gave up too many explosives, then when we would get a little momentum, we just couldn't get a stop," Schottenheimer said. "The complementary football wasn't what it's been over the last couple weeks, and when you play a good football team on the road, when you do that, it's going to be hard to win."
As I note above, Dallas shot itself in the foot several times in all three phases.
Jake Ferguson's fumble, then horrendous OPI call on a long-bomb to Pickens, Prescott's interception to begin the second half, and the defense's inability to stop the Detroit offense were blights on the Cowboys. On five second-half possessions, the Lions were kept scoreless on one thanks to a missed field goal.
Plus, when Dallas did make it a one-score game in the fourth quarter, the defense needed to make a stop, but allowed a five-play, 51-yard touchdown drive that took just 1:23 off the clock.
That's a momentum-killer.
There's plenty of blame to go around in all three phases after this loss, as Dallas' route to the postseason now gets that much harder. But bad things come in threes ... and it happened here in three major areas.