Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott
The fourth-round rookie who began his first offseason far down the depth chart transformed into a franchise quarterback, leading the team to immediate victories and earning four Pro Bowl selections while finishing as an MVP candidate twice during his eight-year career.
However, the Cowboys’ 30-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night marked a situation Prescott hasn’t faced since 2019: the Cowboys lost at least two consecutive games with him at the helm on two occasions.
In contrast, the team did not experience back-to-back losses in either 2022 or 2023, and they only had one instance of consecutive defeats in 2021, which included an overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving Day.
In 2020, Prescott suffered a season-ending injury in Week 5, so he isn’t associated with the team’s last two losing streaks.
To find a Prescott-led team in such a rough patch, one must look back to the 2019 season, which was also marked by Jason Garrett’s final year as coach—a situation reminiscent of the current struggles faced by Mike McCarthy and his staff.
The 2019 Cowboys began with three straight wins, only to lose three in a row, bringing them to .500. They managed to win three out of four games afterward, but then fell into a slump, losing four out of their next five games.
The disarray of that season feels familiar as the Cowboys navigate the middle of the 2024 schedule.