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Suffice to say, the Dallas Cowboys and their mediocre defense had little business competing in Green Bay, especially in January.
And yet on Sunday, the Cowboys outplayed the NFL's best home team. In fact, a Dallas team with almost no playoff experience should have beaten a recent Super Bowl champion with a Hall of Fame-worthy quarterback.
Should, woulda, coulda. All that matters on paper is that the Packers held on for a 26-21 divisional playoff victory, despite the fact the Cowboys lost what might have been a game-changing catch from receiver Dez Bryant on a questionable reversal. They also gave away points with a botched fourth-down decision and missed kick in the first half.
Furthermore, running back DeMarco Murray fumbled away all of their road momentum with a killer third-quarter turnover.
The play nobody will forget, however, was that non-catch from Bryant, which came on a fourth down at the Green Bay 1-yard line with Dallas trailing by five points in the final minutes. According to the rulebook, the officials made the right call. Bryant didn't maintain control while going to the ground.
But as FOX play-by-play man Joe Buck noted, "common sense tells you that was a catch."
Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett echoed that sentiment and felt the lunge from Bryant was a football move.
But Garrett took the high road in a post-game interview with FOX's Chris Myers.
"This game was not about officiating," said Garrett. "We had 60 minutes to prove that we're the better team. Unfortunately we didn't get it done today."
That's where those other mistakes come into play. A run-first team, Dallas made a strange decision having quarterback Tony Romo in shotgun on a 3rd-and-1 at the Green Bay 27-yard line late in the first half. That would result in an incomplete pass, but Garrett strangely decided to attempt a 45-yard field goal. A false start penalty set them back five extra yards, and Dan Bailey's kick was blocked.
That error-filled episode cost the 'Boys—already possessing the momentum and a 14-7 lead—a chance to step on Green Bay's throat. But the situation gave Green Bay good field position and led to a Packers field goal to close out the first half. At the very least, it was a six-point swing.
They regained that momentum early in the third quarter before once again making the type of mistake you can't commit in a road playoff game against a team like the Packers. This time, it was Murray fumbling on a play that might have gone for a 59-yard touchdown had the oft-sloppy ball-handler not allowed Julius Peppers to pop it free.
That led to three more Green Bay points. So we're looking at swings that likely cost Dallas the game.
They were fully responsible for those last two screw-ups, but what's encouraging is that they almost won this game despite all that. Rodgers played a flawless game in the second half, but Romo matched him for much of the day while a banged-up, talent-deprived defense held the Packers to 26 points at home, tied for a season low.
This game truly could have gone either way, which says a lot about a Dallas team that many expected to struggle this year following the offseason departures of Pro Bowl defensive linemen DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher and a summer injury to stud linebacker Sean Lee.
Folks figured the offense would be good and the defense would be horrible. Made sense at the time, considering the D appeared to have gotten worse one year after allowing the third-highest single-season yardage total in NFL history.
But instead, the offense was excellent and the defense was shockingly competent. Romo, Bryant and Murray had breakout seasons and six of their starting 11 offensive players made the Pro Bowl, while defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli worked his magic with a unit that was much better than the sum of its parts.
And that's why this performance—while painful for Cowboys fans to watch—was actually quite promising. We got proof that this Cowboys team can truly compete with the league's best teams in its toughest environments, even when the stars aren't aligning for them as they did one week ago against the Detroit Lions.
Romo had an abysmal playoff reputation before this January rolled around, and he deserved it. He screwed up a hold to botch his first playoff game against Seattle in 2006, he completed only 18 of 36 passes in an upset divisional playoff loss to the Giants in 2007 and he had a rating of just 66.1 in a blowout divisional round loss to the Vikings in 2009.
But a lot has changed since that last playoff appearance in 2009. Romo was ready this time, which explains why he posted a 125.7 passer rating while committing zero turnovers in two playoff games.
Unfortunately for those running low on patience with a team that has zero conference championship game appearances since 1997, the rest of the roster isn't quite ready for a Super Bowl run.
The good news is, this was a growing pain. Romo will be 35 next season, which is old but by no means too old at that position and in this day and age. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees are all older. Meanwhile, Bryant and fellow starting receiver Terrance Williams should only continue to get better, as should an offensive line that features three 24-year-old Pro Bowlers in Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zach Martin.
Among their starters Sunday, only Romo, tight end Jason Witten and cornerback Brandon Carr had started a playoff game before this January.
Now they enter a promising offseason in which the only two unrestricted free agents of note are Bryant and Murray, both of whom can be re-signed if that's the intention. For the first time in several years, they won't be strapped for salary cap space—they're slated to enter the offseason with more than $13 million to spare, according to Over the Cap—which might even give them a chance to spruce up that underrated defense.
So there's little reason to believe these Cowboys can't be back here next year. And if that happens, they'll likely be better prepared to handle some of the situations which they bungled on Sunday.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.
Follow @Brad_Gagnon
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