The Dallas Cowboys had high, albeit unlikely goals heading into their regular season finale against the Washington Commanders.
A win, coupled with an Eagles loss to the Giants, and the Dallas would own the No. 1 seed in the NFC heading into the playoffs.
Any other result, and Dallas would be locked into the No. 5 seed, and head to Tampa Bay to face Tom Brady in the first round next week.
And after an absolutely dismal performance - arguably the Cowboys worst since Week 1 - the Cowboys fell to Washington in an embarrassing 26-6 loss.
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The problems for the Cowboys started at the top, with quarterback Dak Prescott putting forth one of his worst outings of the season, completing just 14 of 37 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown, with one interception -- the worst completion percentage of Prescott's career by a wide margin.
And to add insult to injury, that interception was taken back for a Washington score, giving the Commanders a firm early lead.
To make things worse, the running game was also nonexistent for Dallas, with Tony Pollard leading the Cowboys with a mere 19 yards on seven carries.
In all, the Cowboys totaled just 169 yards of offense, while giving up 309 on the other end to rookie quarterback Sam Howell in his first start.
With their No. 5 seed now secured, the Cowboys will head into Tampa Bay in a vulnerable state, who, despite going 6-2 over their last eight games, have turned in largely sub optimal performances in each of the last five weeks.
Fortunately for Dallas, they should get a handful of key players back from injury in time for their matchup with the Bucs.