Dallas Cowboys Out of Race For NFC No. 1 Seed After Embarrassing Loss?

The Dallas Cowboys Jerseys were supposed to announce themselves as the NFC's best team during their Week 5 Sunday Night Football battle with the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, the Cowboys were embarrassed 42-10 by a 49ers team that has eliminated them in each of the last two postseasons, and surely will be favored to do so again if the two teams meet this January. 

How bad was this? Said QB Dak Prescott: “I didn’t see it coming. … This might be the most humbling game I’ve ever been a part of.”

For as impressive as the Cowboys have looked in their three wins this season, they are now 3-2. You don't want to make any sweeping proclamations in early October, but it's hard to see a path to the Cowboys obtaining the No. 1 seed -- which comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs -- after this loss.  

On one hand, a loss -- whether it's by three points or 32 -- counts the same in the standings.NFL Jerseys On the other hand, the 49ers now own the tiebreaker over the Cowboys. The 5-0 49ers essentially have a three-game lead in the NFC playoff race over the Cowboys because of that. That's what made the Week 3 28-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, even with offensive line injuries acknowledged, so inexplicable. 

Meanwhile, the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles moved to 5-0 by defeating the Los Angeles Rams Jerseys 23-14 Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys have almost certainly been more impressive in their wins than the Eagles have, but they are now two games back in the NFC East race nonetheless. Dallas would have to leapfrog the Eagles to win the NFC East, and to have a shot to be the NFC's top seed. To do that, they would need to sweep their two matchups with Philadelphia, which will come in Week 9 and Week 14. Perhaps they will do that, but it feels a lot more likely that the two NFC East rivals will split their two games.