The Cowboys’ Monday night flop against the Bengals is the latest in a season that has eluded them

ARLINGTON – Only one way to describe the Cowboys’ foray into the world of The Simpsons on Monday night.

D’oh!

You wouldn’t expect an entire season to boil down to one bad game from Amani Oruwariye, a player who may not have been in your program and certainly wasn’t on the press cards on Monday, but that’s just what a season it’s been for the Dallas Cowboys.

Or rather, what a season it was.

In a tie game against the Bengals, the Cowboys forced a punt with two minutes left. Dallas’ Nick Vigil deflected the punt and the Cowboys should have ended up with the ball in Cincinnati territory (meaning it was already within Brandon Aubrey’s field goal range), but Oruwariye attempted the bouncing ball catch it and make a heroic return. He missed it.

Such was the case with this 5-8 season for the Cowboys.

Oruwariye has been up and down the Dallas roster this year, but he’s not new to the league. The Penn State cornerback began his career in Detroit in 2019, was a starter for the Lions for several seasons and saw significant time on special teams. He should know the rules, not much different than the Leon Lett who fumbled a blocked field goal against Miami at Texas Stadium 31 years ago.

“The ball was there and he responded to it,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “Obviously a big play.”

Dallas was about to add another improbable victory to its list. Joe Burrow came here and did what he does, throwing for 369 yards and three touchdowns, but he had just reached 320 with two scores when the punt was blocked. He then hit his favorite target and the league’s top receiver in 2024, Ja’Marr Chase (14 catches, 177 yards, 2 TDs), for a 40-yard score in 1:01 of play. On their final drive, the Cowboys and Cooper Rush never crossed the 50 and the game was over.

Quick question: Does the Cowboys’ winning streak feel like it was about a month ago? I mean, it was actually last month – that crazy finish in Washington with a 34-26 win to stop the bleeding and end a five-game losing streak, followed by a more methodical 27-20 win over the Giants, that Worst team in the NFC. The Cowboys had been off for so long since the Thanksgiving game that it was easy to forget that they were a (sort of) hot team. They played to a standstill most of the night against the Bengals, and that’s impressive considering Burrow led Cincinnati to the Super Bowl three years ago and has led the Bengals to more postseason victories than Dallas has managed this century has.

But the reality is that Cincinnati left the field with the same 5-8 record as Dallas. The Bengals defense is a disaster as this team has already lost four games this season while scoring 30 points. They already knew they were out of the running for the AFC wild card picture — not mathematically, but in a practical sense. The Cowboys? They actually had little chance of getting back into contention with a win on Monday night (hear me out), and it was a game they were leading in the fourth quarter.

A Cowboys victory, which seemed almost automatic given Aubrey’s accuracy even before the tip-off punt, would have given Dallas not only a third straight victory but also a 6-7 record. Only two teams would have stood in the Cowboys’ way for the final NFC wild card spot. That’s 8-5 Washington and the 7-6 LA Rams. If Washington’s two-game lead with four games remaining sounded like a lot, remember that the Cowboys own the tiebreaker and close out the season here with Washington. In Dallas’ eyes, it was actually a one-game deficit, just like the Rams.

Others would have been tied with Dallas, but the Cowboys certainly would have been trending in the right direction with three straight wins and a trip to Carolina to play the improving but still 3-10 Panthers. It didn’t happen. Probably shouldn’t have happened as much as Burrow and Chase sometimes wanted.

“Just do the math,” McCarthy said. “We’re going to need a tremendous amount of help just being Captain Obvious here.”

What’s not quite as obvious is the fact that Dallas can be eliminated for good with a loss to the Panthers on Sunday if Washington beats New Orleans.

This game reminded everyone that while Rico Dowdle can come out on top against a poor run defense, Cooper Rush has limited options to take the team downfield.

He finished the night with just under .500 completions, catching 16 of 31 targets for 183 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He got a lot out of the team’s best player, CeeDee Lamb, early on, but almost nothing in the second half. Rush attempted to force passes to second-tier receivers like Jalen Tolbert, Jonathan Mingo and Ryan Flournoy and was 0 of 5.

Injuries, missed opportunities and a high dose of mediocrity have been the storylines for 2024. There is still almost a month to play, but nothing significant will change.

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.