FRISCO, Texas _ The unforgivable 17-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles is over and the Dallas Cowboys have moved their focus to Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins in the off chance their slim and seemingly farcical playoff hopes are realized.
But no matter the result, the die has already been cast on one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
And the reverberations from the most devastating loss of the last decade are just beginning and the aftershocks will rock the foundation of the franchise in the near and distant future.
A referendum was already in play on coach Jason Garrett's job. He in the last year of his contract and won't return.
The same is true for the bulk of his assistants.
Quarterback Dak Prescott is one of the 26 prospective free agents and the Cowboys remain bullish on signing him to a long-term deal, vice president Stephen Jones has said.
"We have all the confidence in the world in Dak," Jones said. "We've never blinked on that. We had a very aggressive offer out there every step of the way. Certainly understood that if he stepped it up, which I think Dak has given us every opportunity to have success this year. I'm as bullish about Dak as I've ever been."
The same can't be true for wide receiver Amari Cooper, who was not deemed important enough to be on the field for the most important play in the season-defining loss to the Eagles.
The Cowboys have gone from giddily watching Cooper's highlight tape on draft night last April when they didn't have a first-round pick because of the 2018 trade with the Oakland Raiders for the game-breaking receiver to benching him on fourth-and-8 on the last-gasp chance against the Eagles.
It only stands to reason that if you feel your best chance to win a game and a division title is with Tavon Austin, who is worth just $3 million in yearly salary, then why would give Cooper a contract extension worth $18 million or more annually?
That's Cooper's asking price after making $13.9 million in the final year of his contract in 2019.
And the Cowboys seemingly answered their own question with their curious decision-making in the final moments against the Eagles.
Unless Cooper is hurt, and he says he's healthy and so do the Cowboys, despite him dealing with foot, knee and ankle injuries for much of the season, the bottoming out of his stock since the middle of the season has been shocking.
Cooper leads the Cowboys with 75 catches for 1,097 yards and eight touchdowns.
But in the three December games, the most important ones of the season with the NFC East title in the balance, Cooper has just 11 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown, his lowest monthly numbers of the season.
The devil is in the details.
Cooper caught 53 of 71 passes (74.6%) for 848 yards and seven touchdowns through the first nine games of the season. He has caught 22 of 43 passes (51.2%) for 249 yards and a touchdown over the last six.
And that includes being shut out by cornerback Stephon Gilmore and having a crucial drop on fourth down on the final offensive play in the 13-9 loss to the New England Patriots on Nov. 24. It was part of a trend of being ineffective against the league's top cornerbacks as well as a disturbing inclination to not be a factor on the road.
Consider that Cooper caught 48 passes for 777 and five touchdowns with a 77.4 catch percentage at AT&T Stadium this year and just 23 catches for 320 yards, three TDs a 51.9 catch percentage on the road.
That means he averaged seven catches and 111 yards per game at home and three for 40 on the road.
Cooper blamed a lack of targets on the road for the difference.
So in the season's most important game, what did the Cowboys do?
They fed him like running back Ezekiel Elliott. They went to him early and often.
He caught four passes for 24 yards on 12 targets. There was a drop on third down that would have extended a drive.
There was a lack of separation throughout, questionable effort and some poor route running, per Cowboys staffers.
So with the game on the line, on a fourth-and-8 from the Philadelphia 23, the Cowboys felt their best chance to win was an unsuccessful fade route to Michael Gallup with Austin as the only other receiver on the field and Cooper standing on the sideline.
Garrett's explanation spoke volumes.
"Each of those guys is going to play based on what they've done," he said matter of factly. "Amari had been on the earlier route, on the play before ran a seven route on our boundary, so we gave Tavon a chance to go in there for him."
On the play before the final play, the Cowboys threw to a covered Cooper and the ball fell incomplete.
So based on "what they've done," the Cowboys "gave Tavon a chance."
The only real explanation is that Cooper is hurt. He certainly didn't have the same burst in December that he did earlier in the season.
And if he is hurt, he gets credit for fighting valiantly through it and not making excuses.
If not, that noise you just heard was Cooper's $18 million salary being flushed down the toilet.
That's what fourth-and-8 wrought.
