ARLINGTON, Texas -- Twenty-five years after his crowning moment as a professional quarterback in beating Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving, Jason Garrett suffered a devastating loss that could ultimately doom his time as the Dallas Cowboys' coach.
While the Cowboys did not absolutely, positively need a win to keep their playoff chances alive, they absolutely, positively needed a win to bring them confidence for the season's final month as well as stem the tide of the talk surrounding Garrett's future.
Instead, they had one of their worst efforts of the Garrett era Thursday, losing 26-15 to the Buffalo Bills.
The Cowboys are now 0-5 against teams with winning records this season and looked as bad for four quarters against the Bills as they did in their losses to the New Orleans Saints, Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots.
The Cowboys (6-6) are in first place in the NFC East with four games to play only because of the ineptness of the Philadelphia Eagles (5-6).
Yes, the Bills, who are now 9-3, had beaten teams with a worse combined winning percentage than the Cowboys.
All of this came after Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones took Garrett and the coaches to task after last weekend's loss to the Patriots and through the week during his radio appearances.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott had his 13th multiturnover game of the past three seasons. Only Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston has more with 17. A second-quarter interception was muted by a missed field goal attempt, but a fumble on the next drive led to the Bills' go-ahead touchdown -- a 28-yard touchdown pass from receiver John Brown to running back Devin Singletary.
If not for the aforementioned field goal miss, Buffalo would have scored on six consecutive possessions from the second quarter into the fourth quarter. Instead, the Bills scored on five of six possessions to push their lead to 26-7 with 8 minutes, 20 seconds to play.
After opening with a 75-yard touchdown drive on their first possession, the Cowboys went punt, punt, interception, fumble, missed field goal attempt, missed field goal attempt, turnover on downs.
Twenty-five years after filling in for an injured Troy Aikman and throwing for 311 yards against Reggie White & Co., Garrett's time as coach might not be officially over, but it is looking more that way than ever before.
Describe the game in two words: Do we need two? How about one: Disgusting. With so much to play for, the Cowboys were a comedy of errors all game.
QB breakdown: Prescott has had better days. Many of them. But now the quarterback is in a funk. Four days after throwing for 212 yards on 19-of-33 passing against New England, Prescott was burned by two takeaways by the Bills' defense. And it could have been more, if not for a penalty negating an interception. Prescott was picked off and lost a fumble during a four-play span in the second quarter. After the outcome had been decided, he was sacked for a fourth time but saved by Tyron Smith recovering his fumble. The two-game funk will not alter the Cowboys' position on Prescott. He will be paid handsomely whenever the sides come to an agreement, but the NFL Most Valuable Player talk is no longer on the table.
Troubling trend: If the Cowboys are to make it back to the playoffs, they have to do something about their kicking situation. Brett Maher had two more misses Thursday, a 35-yarder at the end of the first half and a 47-yarder that was pushed right to start the second half. Maher has missed more field goal tries (nine) than he did all of last season. He is the only kicker in NFL history with three made field goals of 60 or more yards, but he has lacked the necessary consistency this season. The Cowboys simply have to make a change while they still have a shot at the postseason.