The Dallas Cowboys maintained their playoff aspirations with a victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. However, their chances are minimal, since they are now ranked 6-8 and 12th in the NFC seeds.

So, not only would the Cowboys need to win out against the rest of their opponents – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Commanders – but they would also require a lot of assistance from their NFC counterparts sitting above them in the ranks.

Are the Cowboys out with a loss to the Bucs?
It seems like every week since Week 11, we’ve just been waiting for the official call that the Cowboys are out of the playoff race. But in Week 12, fans got their hopes up again when Dallas upset their NFC East rivals Washington Commanders. The following week, they beat the New York Giants, to keep their chances alive for longer.

If they had managed to get a win over the Cincinnati Bengals the next week, the chances of Dallas making the playoffs would have been a little greater, but it honestly wouldn’t have helped that much. As it is, they lost to the Bengals and kept their odds at a less than 1% chance. The win over the Panthers, more than keeping them in the race, it’s more like it delayed keeping them out.

It’s crunch time for some NFL teams with just three games left in the regular season. Going into Week 16, there are five teams who can clinch a playoff berth.

The lineup for the 2024-25 NFL playoffs is halfway to completion, after three more teams claimed their postseason berths this weekend.

Now, the Cowboys have to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their Week 16 game this Sunday to even keep their small hopes alive. A loss to the Bucs would automatically eliminate the Cowboys from the playoffs in Week 16. A tie would also eliminate them. And even if they win, if the Commanders pull off a win over the Eagles, it would knock the Cowboys out of contention.