San Diego Chargers 20 - Dallas Cowboys 17
The Dallas Cowboys are on the verge of dumping another promising season. At 8-5, they're still in the playoff picture, but for two weeks in a row, Dallas has lost games they had a chance to win. Playoffs team generally close better than this, The 40-Year Old Virgin closed the deal more often than this team.
One of the hottest teams in the NFL, the San Diego Chargers, came to Texas and strutted out with a 20-17 victory over the Cowboys, lending more credence to the December Collapse. It's almost too easy to use the Cowboys mind-numbing failure to score from one-yard out, three times, as the symbol of this team. Again, the Cowboys offense moved the ball, but failed to close the deal when it mattered in the redzone. Again, Nick Folk wasted an opportunity for three points. Again, third down haunts an otherwise solid performance from the defense.
Now the Cowboys are riding a two-game losing streak and heading to play the undefeated New Orleans Saints. They'll do it on a short week. And they'll do it possibly without DeMarcus Ware, who was carted off the field with some kind of neck/head injury.
It's hard to remain optimistic about this team's chances; the last two weeks are wretched examples for building any kind of confidence. If the Cowboys and Wade Phillips want to save their season, they've put themselves in one of the worst positions imaginable. They go on the road, to face an undefeated team.
One team in that game next week closes the deal, the other team doesn't.