No excuses for the Cowboys anymore — Can they figure it out?

Halloween may be over, but Aaron Rodgers is still haunting the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys fall to the Green Bay Packers in overtime 31-28, after the Cowboys gave up a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. This loss hurts, and it proves one thing – the Cowboys are still the same ol’ Cowboys.

For years, the Cowboys have whooped up on teams that are clearly less talented than they are and seem to fall short to the good teams in the league that they need to beat. There are zero excuses as to why the Cowboys lost the game on Sunday after the Packers were on a five-game losing streak.

When are we going to see this team beat the teams they need to beat?

Sure, we can point out Dak Prescott’s two interceptions that may or may not have been entirely his fault – but the Cowboys were still up 28-14 in the fourth quarter even after those turnovers. We can also point out the officiating and how they handled calling penalties in this game. However, the Cowboys should have played well enough to not allow officiating to dictate the outcome of the game. The Cowboys can only blame themselves for this loss, specifically the defense who couldn’t stop the Packers’ rushing attack at all, and it doesn’t get any easier for this team over the next few weeks.

Dallas will travel to Minnesota this Sunday to take on the Vikings (8-1), who just outlasted the Super Bowl favorite Buffalo Bills in what might be the game of the year, and then four days later the Cowboys will host their division rival on Thanksgiving, the New York Giants (7-2).

The Cowboys needed to win this game and make a statement to the rest of the NFC. The Cowboys needed to finally take down a demon from their past to get where they want to go. If the Cowboys couldn’t beat a depleted Packers team that was on the verge of losing their entire season, then what is so different about this year’s Cowboys team?

This offense needs to be better – plain and simple.

It is approaching week 11 in the NFL and the Cowboys’ offense still has miscommunication issues and receivers are not able to get open. If the Cowboys couldn’t beat the Packers and lose to Minnesota or New York, will Odell Beckham Jr. even want to come to Dallas? I wouldn’t think so.

The Cowboys’ defense has to figure out how to stop the run. The Cowboys are set to face some of the league’s best running backs through the rest of the season, which could spell bad news for this defense.

Just one week ago we were wondering if the Cowboys could steal the #1 seed in the NFC going into the playoffs, and now we are left to wonder if this team can even get to the postseason. There are still a lot of question marks on this Cowboys team after the halfway point of the season, and the Cowboys are running out of time to find answers.

The Cowboys sit in third place in the NFC East and still have three more games against the rest of their division. The playoffs aren’t out of reach for the Cowboys by any means, but if the Cowboys cannot fix some of the same issues that have plagued this team for years, then it could get ugly for the Cowboys come January.