The second day of Super Wild Card Weekend didn't go as expected, at least for the Dallas Cowboys. Full of Super Bowl aspirations, the Cowboys fell in the Wild Card round for the second time in three years when the Green Bay Packers ran them out of AT&T Stadium (and the game wasn't even that close).
Jordan Love left his mark in the Packers' win as Green Bay became the first No. 7 seed to win a playoff game in the expanded playoff format. The Cowboys have gone 13 consecutive postseasons without reaching the conference championship game, the longest such streak in NFL history.
The Lions also won their first playoff game since 1991 and only their second playoff game since 1957. Detroit will host two playoff games for the first time in franchise history.
After reviewing Sunday's wild card games, here's what we learned from both contests and how that translates to the divisional round and next week.
Cowboys still stink in January
The story in Dallas remains the same every year. The Cowboys are knocking out bad football teams and increasing the point differential to look like one of the best teams in the NFL. This year was no different.
Against teams that finished with a losing record, the Cowboys were 8-1 with a point differential of +204. Against teams that finished with a winning record, the Cowboys were 4-4 with a point differential of -10. The Cowboys averaged 34.3 points against teams with losing records and 25.0 points against teams with winning records. Dallas became the third team in NFL history with nine wins by more than 20 points in a season (1999 Rams, 2007 Patriots) and won 16 straight home games (including six by more than 20 points).
This team was always judged in January and they laid an egg on the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. Dallas was playing a playoff game at home and trailed 48-16 in the fourth quarter. This was a team that was 8-0 at home in the regular season with a margin of +172 points. According to CBS Sports Research, this is the largest home regular season point differential ever lost by a team in NFL history after losing the playoff opener at home.
The Cowboys faced a team with a winning record and lost, but that shouldn't be a surprise considering the defense allowed 26.3 points per game against teams with a winning record and 11.7 against teams with a losing record.
Dallas is now 5-13 in the playoffs since its last Super Bowl win and failed to advance past the divisional round. For all the turmoil the Cowboys bring when they beat bad teams, they are definitely that bad team in January.
Dak Prescott still can't lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl
Prescott was great at adding unnecessary time to those numbers in Sunday's disastrous loss. With the Cowboys trailing 48-16 in the fourth quarter, Prescott finished 17 of 21 for 210 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 140.1. Previously, Prescott was 24 of 39 for 193 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions (61.2 rating), including two bad interceptions (one on a pick six) that led to 14 Green Bay points.
Prescott is 2-5 in his postseason career, the worst postseason record of any quarterback who has made at least five playoff starts. He still has not played in a conference championship game in his nine seasons in the league, despite playing quarterback on a team that won more than 12 games in four of his five postseason attempts.
Prescott's two playoff wins came against teams with an overall record of 18-15 (.545 winning percentage). His playoff losses have come against teams with an overall record of 57-27 (.679), three of them on the road.
The Cowboys will have to make a decision as to whether Prescott can lead this team to where it wants to go. It's certainly difficult for him to beat the good teams in January – and to play well against such teams.
Jordan Kind regards, the Packers have a very bright future
The Packers became the first No. 7 seed to win a playoff game in the 14-team playoff era (since 2020). The No. 7 seed was 0-6 in the playoffs before the Packers' blowout win over the Cowboys, a game Jordan Love won, going 16 of 21 for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Love tied with CJ Stroud (who posted a 157.2 rating on Saturday) for the fourth-highest single-game passer rating in NFL playoff history. Only Terry Bradshaw (158.3 in 1976), Peyton Manning (158.3 in 2003) and Josh Allen (157.6 in 2021) had a better grade. Not only did Love shine in the win, the Packers also scored 48 points on the road – which was the second most points in a playoff game in NFL history.
Green Bay is the youngest team to ever win a playoff game (average age 25 years and 214 days). The future now belongs to a team that is loaded with playmakers in all areas and already has a franchise quarterback who will lead them for the next decade (just like Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers).
The Lions were right about Jared Goff
The Lions hit the reset button when they moved on from Matthew Stafford and gave him a chance to win a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. Detroit got Goff as the centerpiece of the trade, selecting Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta in a series of trades with the draft picks they acquired from the Stafford deal.
Goff led the Lions to their first playoff win since 1991, defeating Stafford in Detroit's first playoff game in seven years (first home playoff game since 1993). The Lions quarterback finished 22 of 27 for 277 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions (121.8 rating), becoming the first quarterback to defeat his former head coach in the playoffs since Brett Favre defeated Mike Holmgren in 2007. Goff also became the first quarterback to beat his former team in the playoffs in 28 years (Favre also did this against the Falcons in 1995).
Dan Campbell did nothing other than stand by Goff during the duo's three seasons in Detroit, continuing to push the franchise and the city forward as the win total improved each year. Now the duo has won a playoff game and a divisional round game at home.
Goff isn't an elite quarterback, but he knows how to win in the playoffs. Campbell puts Goff in the best possible position to succeed and rewards his head coach for his faith in him. This puts Detroit just one win away from the conference championship game.
The Rams continue to lose games to playoff teams
The Rams were considered the team no one wanted to face before the postseason, but they shouldn't have been. Before the playoffs, Los Angeles was 2-6 against playoff teams (and one of those was Week 18 and their opponent gave the starters a break).
Essentially, the Rams struggled against good teams. This was also true in Sunday's loss to the Lions, as the Rams failed to score a touchdown in the second half of the loss and failed to reach the end zone on each of their final four drives.
Regardless of how the Rams performed against playoff teams, the team still has a bright future. Puka Nacua is already one of the best wide receivers in the NFL (and was a rookie this year), Kyren Williams is a top-five running back, while Byron Young and Kobie Turner are future stars on defense. They will likely still have Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald.
The Rams should be a contender in the NFC for the next few seasons.