What Was Wade Phillips Thinking on Cowboys' Last Drive Against Chargers?

After a recent 20-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers, the Dallas Cowboys and their recent struggles in December have become one of the hottest topics in sports—again.

With three weeks left in the regular season, the Cowboys currently hold the final Wild Card spot in the NFC after sitting first in the NFC East since Week Nine.

With two losses in a row to the New York Giants and Chargers by a combined 10 points, the Cowboys need to recuperate quickly if they plan on making the playoffs this season.

One of the main concerns in last Sunday's loss to the Chargers was the decisions made with play calling on the final drive of the game. Down 20-10, Dallas had less than two minutes to find a way to score quickly and attempt to get the ball back on an onside kick after San Diego wasted 7:17 on their previous drive.

Dallas was forced to start from its own 14-yard line after the trickery play where Felix Jones lateraled to Miles Austin failed on the following kickoff return. As the Cowboys moved further down the field, the clock continued to wind down since all their timeouts had been used.

In this situation, the smart approach for the Cowboys to take seemed to be to find the quickest way to score and get the ball back through an onside kick since it was a two-possession game. So what stopped Wade Phillips from kicking a field goal from the San Diego 18 with a little over 20 seconds left in the game?

A field goal would have put the Cowboys down 20-13 with around 20 seconds left in the game and at least a shot of finding the end zone before time expired.

Instead, Dallas was left with seven seconds on the clock after Tony Romo found Austin in the end zone for the nine-yard touchdown. Seven seconds to recover an onside kick and drive about 30-40 yards to get in Nick Folk's kicking range to attempt a last-second field goal.

Exactly.

The Cowboys needed more than seven seconds to have any shot at tying the game. While it may have been a long shot for Romo and company to actually tie the game given the circumstances, Phillips should have done what was best for Dallas to stay alive—kick the quick field goal and attempt the onside kick since it would have happened no matter what.

Even the look on Romo's face after he threw the touchdown pass to Austin displayed signs of frustration since he knew how unlikely it was for Dallas to tie the game with such little time left.

Give the Chargers credit for defeating the Cowboys and winning their 16th straight game in the month of December. They went on the road and made a statement as to why they deserve a first-round bye in the playoffs. 

As far as the Cowboys, they have a tough schedule ahead of them with two upcoming games against the 13-0 New Orleans Saints and 9-4 Philadelphia Eagles the next three weeks.

If the Cowboys find themselves down late in the fourth quarter looking for a game-tying drive, maybe Phillips will use what happened against the Chargers as a lesson on what plays he decides to use.

Dan Parzych is the founder of the new NFCEastFootball.com