Tale as old as time: The Dallas Cowboys exit the playoffs early. The No. 2-seeded Cowboys were defeated, embarrassed even, by the No. 7 Green Bay Packers in Super Wild Card Weekend, losing 48-32.
The San Francisco 49ers earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC and got to watch the rest of the teams fight it out in the first round, while they all relaxed at home. The 49ers knew they would play the lowest remaining seed and they had an idea of which team that would be.
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan said just midway through the second quarter of the Cowboys-Packers game, the team started preparing to face Green Bay.
"We were already in here. We were doing it that day," Shanahan said when asked about getting ready for the divisional round." ... Started really focusing on [the Packers] halfway through the second quarter."
He added that by the "third quarter I was set on one team."
#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said they already started preparing for the #Packers during the second quarter of Sunday's game vs. Dallas. 💀pic.twitter.com/MPNX7ko0J8
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 16, 2024
If that doesn't show how most feel about the Cowboys' capability of winning in the playoffs, it's hard to imagine what does.
The Packers had a 27-0 lead with just under 2 minutes remaining in the first half and would keep the lead for the rest of the game. By halftime, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott already had two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown.
Shanahan clearly saw all he needed to see and the Cowboys' reputation in the playoffs probably didn't hurt either.
The Cowboys have not advanced to a conference championship since 1995 and after this loss they are 5-13 in the playoffs since winning their last Super Bowl. Prescott is now 2-5 in the postseason, tied for the worst playoff record for any quarterback who has made a minimum of five playoff starts.
Dallas is the first team since the 1970 merger to lose three straight playoff games as a favorite of at least seven points. Even with their recent history of failure in the postseason, this season it seemed even the most intense curses couldn't stop them from making the NFC Championship, at minimum.
Everything was going well for Dallas, which won the division, thanks in part to the Philadelphia Eagles losing five of their last six games. Earning the No. 2 seed in the NFC gave them home-field advantage -- where they had won 16 games in a row at AT&T Stadium -- for at least the wild card and divisional rounds.
Their chances seemed even better looking at who they were facing, the last-seeded Packers and first-year starting quarterback Jordan Love, who were a long shot to make the playoffs most of the season and ended at 9-8.
