NFL Power Rankings Week 15: Contenders That Suffered Agonizing Defeats

It's the time of the NFL season when one game can be the difference between making it to the postseason or going home unhappy.

In Week 14, three contenders in particular took hard falls and will probably have nightmares for at least a week because of it.

Here's to those contenders who will have nightmares.

Sweet dreams.

3. San Francisco 49ers (10-3)

The 49ers came into Week 14 with a 10-2 record, having just clinched the NFC West.

However, the Cardinals had won five of their last six games, including against the Dallas Cowboys, and their defense had looked much better in recent weeks.

What it amounted to was one of the 49ers' worst games of the season. The defense allowed John Skelton and Larry Fitzgerald to hook up multiple times and quarterback Alex Smith struggled mightily, his protection not helping him.

Certainly a wake-up call for the 49ers, and it once again exposed the 49ers' trouble scoring in the red zone.

2. Cincinnati Bengals (7-6)

The Bengals' defense hasn't looked the same in the last two weeks and Houston Texans rookie quarterback T.J. Yates took advantage in Week 14, throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns.

On top of that, the Bengals' offense vanished when it was needed most, as the Texans outscored the Bengals, 10-0, in the fourth quarter to win 20-19 in Cincinnati.

It was a heart-breaking loss for a team that needs every win it can get if it wants to make the playoffs.

1. Dallas Cowboys (7-6)

You have to feel for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

He's constantly called a choker in the crucial moments of games, but he put the Cowboys in position for game-winning field goals in the last two weeks and came up empty.

For the second consecutive week, somebody called a last-second timeout right before the field goal then Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey missed his second attempt to lose the game for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys could easily be 9-4 right now, but they find themselves at 7-6 and trailing the New York Giants for the NFC East lead.

Say it ain't so, Romo.