Dallas Cowboys: Fans, Step Away From The Ledge

The feeling of impending doom hit me pretty early in the Cowboy 17-7 loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers.

Right when Nick Folk missed that 38-yard field goal on the Cowboys' first drive was when I felt the lug nuts start loosening on the wheels.

Only when Felix failed to recover that fumble in the fourth quarter did the wheels officially come off.

They were clearly beaten, bruised and battered by a Packers team that had its season on the brink.

Funny thing was, five minutes after the game, I was over it.

The Cowboys got beat by a team that had a better defensive scheme, playing on their field, against a team with their back against the wall.

This wasn't the 44-6, heartless, playoffs-on-the-line, rotten egg, the Cowboys laid last year against the Eagles. 

No, the team, specifically the defense, gave a great effort in shutting down the Packs' aerial attack for most of the afternoon.

Like most losses, you can lay blame on a lot of things. 

The team got some poor performances from a few players.  They lost the turnover battle and faced some inexplicably bad refereeing.  Sprinkled in a few injuries and the Cowboys' penchant for stupid penalties and you have your classic recipe for a loss.

The team didn't fold up though; they simply got beat by the better team, today . 

I can live with that.

Let me point something out to you.  No Cowboy team which has won a Super Bowl has ever gone undefeated.  Even more clearly, the teams that did win the Super Bowl all had multiple losses during the regular season.

1971 - SB VI - (11-3) regular season record
1977 - SB XII - (12-2)
1992 - SB XVII - (13-3)
1993 - SB XVIII - (12-4)
1996 - SB XXX - (12-4)

So what is my point? 

The point is, even these past Super Bowl winners faced defeat on more than one occasion on their way to adding a Lombardi to the trophy case.

They all lost games they undoubtedly thought they should have won.  They all felt doom, gloom and despair after dropping a game.

Every loss is ugly; there is no way to get around it.  But, perspective is in order.

Are the Cowboys a Super Bowl quality team?  That remains to be seen.

Let the season take its course and revisit it when the season is at least closer to its completion. 

The Cowboys face a new challenge; how will they react coming off a loss after playing so well previously?

I'm the farthest thing from a homer with rose-colored glasses, but I feel like they will lick their wounds and move forward in righting the ship next week at home against the Redskins.