The Minnesota Vikings turned up the pressure against Dallas, forcing three turnovers and sacking quarterback Tony Romo six times in a 34-3 thrashing of the Cowboys in their NFC Divisional game.
The Cowboys came in to Mid-America Mall Field on a four-game winning streak, fueled by an offense that was limiting its mistakes and a defense that was shutting down opponents.
But on Sunday the Cowboys did virtually nothing right, and as a result the Vikings will be playing in New Orleans next week against the Saints in the NFC championship with a berth in Super Bowl XLIV at stake.
Minnesota made Dallas look nothing like the team that had won four straight, forcing Romo to run for his life most of the game.
In addition to being sacked six times, the Vikings hit Romo ten times when he dropped back to pass. Minnesota also caused him to fumble three times, throw one interception and tackled the Cowboys for losses on 11 plays.
As bad as Dallas and Romo were, the Vikings and Brett Favre played nearly flawless football.
Favre completed 15 of 24 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns.
Cowboy fans had to know things were going to get ugly when Favre completed a 47-yard pass to Sidney Rice for the Vikings first touchdown of the game.
On the play, Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaugh was covering Rice but didn’t even realize he’d caught the ball. Sensabaugh never turned his head around on the play as Rice made a one-handed catch and ran into the end zone.
From that point forward, things went abruptly downhill for Dallas. After the Cowboys cut into Minnesota’s lead with a 33-yard field goal from Shaun Suisham with 12:11 left in the first half, the Vikings scored 27 unanswered points.
The Vikings played like a team that was well motivated to make their first trip to the NFC championship since 2000. Now Minnesota is on the cusp of getting back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1976.
Meanwhile, Dallas will have to take the harsh lessons learned from this game to improve their roster. The Cowboys offensive line – a perceived strength of the team – was overpowered by the Vikings.
For all the mistakes Romo was attributed with making against the Vikings, all of them came as a result of the offensive line’s inability to protect him.
Roy Williams, the wide receiver owner Jerry Jones traded for last season, was a non-factor. In fact, he was virtually invisible the entire game.
For a player making $9 million a year, Williams caught only 38 passes this season and had the most drops of any receiver in the NFL.
Jones will have to make a decision whether Williams is worth the continued investment or if a trade can somehow be worked out. Considering a trade isn’t likely, perhaps the best thing for Dallas is to send Williams packing and take the salary cap hit.
Romo will have to use this loss to reinforce what he already knows – protecting the football is paramount. He made great strides this season, reducing his interceptions by not throwing into coverage.
Most importantly, Dallas has to find a kicker who can make field goals from distances an NFL kicker is expected to make, especially in a kicker-friendly dome.
Suisham cost the Cowboys points and momentum with his two missed field goals on Sunday. Dallas can’t afford to spend another season with a kicker on the roster that isn’t capable of connecting on at least 80% of his field goal attempts.
Dallas took significant steps forward this season and can put the experience gained to good use for the 2010 campaign.
Considering Super Bowl XLV will be played in Cowboys Stadium in February 2011, Dallas has all the motivation they’ll need.
