NFL playoff picture: What Cowboys loss to Vikings mean for NFC standings in Week 15

SNF update: The Cowboys lost 34-26 to the Vikings and are on the verge of elimination from playoff contention. They dropped to 6-7-1 and host the Chargers in Week 16. They can be eliminated from playoff contention if they lose that game or the Eagles beat the Commanders.

The Dallas Cowboys will host the Minnesota Vikings tonight in a Week 15 showdown that will have have some impact on the NFC playoff race. The Vikings have already been eliminated from playoff contention while the Cowboys are still hanging around in the hunt.

The Cwoboys were rolling along on a three-game win streak before a road loss at the Lions last Thursday dropped them to 6-6-1 for the year. They still have a shot at catching the Eagles for the NFC East title, but that path got narrower with the defending Super Bowl champions burying the Raiders earlier on Sunday. Dallas can move to just 1.5 games behind Philly with a win tonight while a loss would drop the team to 2.5 games back and put its division title hopes on life support.

As far as the NFC Wild Card race is concerned, the Cowboys victory tonight would only move them up to No. 8 in the standings and they would still need some help down the stretch in order to sneak into the postseason. Last week’s loss to the Lions put them behind the eight-ball as they have to find a way to climb over them to simply be on the edge of the conversation and that’s not even mentioning the task of catching the 49ers for the final spot. The result of the San Francisco-Tennessee game will be known by the time the Cowboys take the field for their game and they’ll certainly be rooting for the Titans to have pulled off a massive upset by then.

As mentioned before, the head-to-head tiebreaker loss to the Lions was very detrimental to the Cowboys’ playoff hopes and they basically have no room for error if they want to sneak into the postseason.