Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy has had some time to analyze the Dallas Cowboys playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. After a bit of thought, the NFL analyst from NBC has come to the conclusion that it was the Cowboys' abysmal play and not the referees that cost Dallas the game. While that should be common knowledge, it had to be verified because of Dallas' players and fans' stubborn insistence that they were not given a fair chance at the end of the game. Dungy stated the following on his personal Twitter account on Monday:

“Concerning the Dallas Cowboys—let’s forget the last play and the clock. How about giving up 169 yds rushing, giving up 5 sacks, completing less than 60% of their passes, running for only 77 yds, and committing 14 penalties?? That’s more concerning than the last 14 seconds.” – Tony Dungy

Dungy may be blunt and a little mean-spirited towards the Cowboys but the bottom line is that he is right. The Cowboys' bad play on offense and defense, and not the referees, is what cost Dallas a chance to advance to the next round. The Cowboys are now on to golfing season instead of the postseason and they have no one to blame for that but themselves. Dallas needs to turn the corner on this game and begin to focus on defending their NFC East title in 2022. If they fail to do so, there could be a new NFC East champion for the 18th time in a row.