“If you play the game long enough you’re gonna have some days like this," said Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey after Dallas' 34-26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
It's pretty remarkable when such a commotion is made about a kicker missing a field goal from 50 yards away, but that explains the luxury Dallas Cowboys fans have enjoyed with Brandon Aubrey on the team for the past two-plus seasons.
In 2025 - the All-Pro's third season in Dallas - Aubrey had missed just two field goals through 13 games. Even that percentage is right at expectations, as Cowboys Nation most fondly remembers Aubrey's historic pace to begin his career, where he set the NFL record with 35 straight made field goals to begin his career.
However, in a rare showing of humanity, it was Aubrey's inaccuracy as one of the storylines out of Dallas' frustrating 34-26 loss in Week 15 to the Minnesota Vikings in Arlington, a game that plummeted the Cowboys' already low playoff odds to below one percent.
Aubrey accounted for over half of Dallas' points in the game - including every point scored in a nearly empty second half - with four field goals on six attempts.
He missed as many field goals in this game as he had the entire season to this point. The kicks weren't chip-shots by any means (59 and 51 yards away), but fans' spoiled confidence in Aubrey was let down in crucial situations that could have kept Dallas within reach of the Vikings, and potentially a victory.
To begin the new week, Aubrey spoke honestly about his rare multi-miss performance.
"If you play the game long enough you’re gonna have some days like this," he said. "Just feels different being at home. First time for me [this type of game] happened at home. But I’ve had days like this every year. I’ve had one specifically every year, so I bounced back those years and just do the same thing."
Aubrey had just two misses in his 2023 rookie season, with both coming in the regular season finale at Washington to put an end to that historic streak. In 2024, he was 40 of 47 on field goals but only missed two in a game once - coincidentally in the nation's capital again.
He followed up that two-miss game in Week 11 by ending the season 15/17.
Aubrey says in order to bounce back again this season, he needs to remember to stick to the regime and routine that got him here.
"Nothing needs to change in the process," Aubrey said in recalling each kick. "I struck the first one well [from] 51, just left it a little right of the target. And then off the toe for the second one from 59. So, pretty easy fixes for me.”
Analyst Cris Collinsworth was in awe on the NBC "Sunday Night Football" broadcast of Aubrey's fluid motion - how he almost stops his followthrough just as his foot makes contact with the ball. That easy-flowing style likely cuts out any extra motion, and thus room for inconsistency and error, out of the equation. That technique could come from Aubrey's experience as a collegiate soccer player, where as a midfielder he was needed to making long, cross-field passes with precision.
Aubrey's showing against the Vikings also included an ultra-rare offensive highlight, where he caught a perfect over-the-shoulder flip from his holder and rushed for a six-yard gain to get a new set of downs.
The kicking, however accurate or not, will be back to its regular ways. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer is confident in it, in addition to this new wrinkle in the offensive playbook.
"I actually said it in there; we're spoiled with Brandon Aubrey, you know what I'm saying?" Schottenheimer said postgame. "He's such a great player."
To a point, Schottenheimer's - and nearly all of Cowboys Nation's - blind confidence in Aubrey's excellence can almost be a crutch at times that yields poor decision-making when it comes to deciding to kick a long-distance bomb, gamble for a conversion or punt the opponent deep.
"I had no question in my mind he was going to make it," Schottenheimer claims regarding the missed 59-yarder, "and I feel good about that decision."
The first miss came with the score tied 14-14 just before halftime, and the second came in a crucial fourth-quarter spot where Dallas could have retaken the lead at 26-24.
The Vikings, instead, would take advantage of the field position by scoring a touchdown to go up 31-23, which was followed by the Cowboys' close fourth-down rush that was stopped inches short of the line to gain. Minnesota tacked on another field goal to make it a two-possession score, then Aubrey's final field goal from 41 yards wasn't enough as Dallas failed to recover the subsequent on-side kick.
"We were making field goals rather than getting some touchdowns," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recalled with frustration outside the locker room, "and that ended up biting us, especially when we missed the two that we missed."
The Cowboys led the NFL in yards per game entering Week 15, but could not come up with meaningful drives when it mattered most.
So, in addition to Aubrey, it was just "one of those days" for everybody in silver and blue.
With the playoff odds stacked against them, the Cowboys will look to get back on track on Dec. 21 when they take on the LA Chargers in Arlington for the regular-season home finale.
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