The Dallas Cowboys' season ended on a rather sour note on Sunday afternoon, as they were beaten thoroughly over sixty minutes of football by the Minnesota Vikings, 34-3.
Minnesota's Sidney Rice set a new franchise record with three touchdown catches, the first, a 47-yarder, coming midway through the first quarter to give the Vikings an early 7-0 lead. Dallas moved the ball effectively early, but could muster little in the way of points. Dallas would answer with a 33-yard Shaun Suisham field goal to bring the deficit to four, at 7-3.
This would stand as the smallest deficit seen by Dallas all afternoon, and it wouldn't last long. After Suisham's field goal, his only make on the day in three tries, Minnesota took over at their own 20. Favre led them to the Dallas 16 in nine plays. Favre hit Rice for the second time on a broken play to extend the lead to 14-3, Vikings.
Tony Romo found protection hard to come by on Sunday, as evidenced by a career-high six sacks, three fumbles (two lost) and a pressure-induced interception; that is, it got pretty ugly. After a Jared Allen strip-sack of Romo, Minnesota took over at the Dallas 20, before stalling and giving way to Ryan Longwell. Longwell hit a 23-yarder to bring to tally to 17-3.
The score would stand into the final frame, when Longwell added a 28-yard field goal.
Favre hit Rice for his third touchdown of the day on Minnesota's next possession, a 45-yarder over Mike Jenkins, all but ending any hope of a comeback for the Cowboys. Favre's final touchdown, an 11-yard toss to Visanthe Shiancoe with just about two minutes left, only applied some salt to Dallas's wounds, with the game well in hand.
With the 34-3 loss, of course, Dallas is eliminated from playoff
