It was an ugly performance for the Dallas Cowboys to close out the regular season. A 26-6 loss to the Washington Commanders leaves a bitter taste ahead of the NFL postseason.

Nothing went right in a game that should have allowed the team to build some momentum heading into the playoffs. From turnovers to self-inflicted mistakes, it seemed like everything went wrong from start to finish.

Dak Prescott was all out of sorts throwing the ball. The run game never got going. Even the defense struggled to make rookie Sam Howell pay in his first career start – aside from a first half interception.

Needless to say, it was the kind of game that you want to throw away and forget about. The problem? It isn't that easy when the playoffs are set to kickoff in a week. Dallas has to figure these problems out fast.

Dak Prescott is bookending his 2022 season with two of the worst games of his career.

Plenty of good football in between. But Week 1 vs. Tampa & Week 18, today against Washington. About as bad as I've ever seen him play.

— Dave Helman (@davehelman_) January 8, 2023

Cowboys lay a dud

To make matters worse, the Cowboys are set to play the very team that they were embarrassed by in week one. Aside from the season finale, the Cowboys were only really shutdown offensively by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That can't make you feel too good about the upcoming playoff opener. It was one of only two times this season we have seen this offense look completely out of sorts with Dak Prescott behind center. And the Buccaneers have a bunch of talent on the front seven.

Do the Bucs still employ Vita Vea, Akiem Hicks, Lavonte David & Devin White?

They do? Oh, ok cool. For a second I was worried the Cowboys might do something dumb like average 1.3 ypc on a bunch of early down runs next week. But there’s no way they’d do that against those guys ?

— Dave Helman (@davehelman_) January 8, 2023

Vita Vea presents a major challenge for the Cowboys. As does the Buccaneers defense as a whole, as we saw in the season opener. Not to mention, some guy named Tom Brady plays quarterback for Tampa Bay and has had quite a bit of playoff succeess.

Dallas needs center Tyler Biadasz back in a big way. There is hope that he will be able to return after missing the regular season finale. The Cowboys also desperately need Dak Prescott and the offense to be in sync. Of course, that was not the case on Sunday.

The Dallas Cowboys needed to build some momentum heading into the playoffs. Instead, they laid an egg, raising the alarms for concern.

Featured image via Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports