The Packers surprise the Cowboys and will face the 49ers in the divisional round

ARLINGTON, Texas — The NFC's No. 2 seed Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday's wild card game as heavy favorites against the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers, but they weren't even in the game.

The Packers scored on their first possession, built a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 48-32 victory.

Green Bay now heads west to face the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers next week in the divisional round.

After returning to 12-5 in the regular season and failing to advance in the playoffs, the Cowboys head into the offseason facing questions about the futures of coach Mike McCarthy, quarterback Dak Prescott and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

Green Bay Packers

These are no longer the young Packers. They are Jordan Love's Packers.

In his first playoff game, the first-year starting quarterback, surrounded by the NFL's youngest group of pass catchers, turned in a performance for the ages in Sunday's win over the Cowboys.

As if Love's impressive regular season, with 32 touchdown passes, second in the NFL behind Prescott, wasn't enough to excite an organization that is trying to strike quarterback gold for the third straight time (Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre), then Sunday's. Pure dominance should be enough.

Love finished 16 of 21 for 272 yards and three touchdowns with a passer rating of 157.2.

He joins Baker Mayfield (48 points) and Rodgers (45) as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to lead their team to at least 40 points on the road in their first playoff start.

Describe the game in two words: Upset city. The Packers, who had to win the final game of the regular season to reach the postseason, trailed by 7.5 points, making this the franchise's biggest playoff upset since the 1995 divisional round. when the Packers won in San Francisco as 10-point Underdogs.

Promising trend: Imagine if the Packers had Aaron Jones all season; they may have hosted playoff games. After missing six regular-season games (three with a hamstring injury and three with a knee injury), the running back entered the playoffs with a streak of three consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

On Sunday, Jones rushed for 118 yards and scored three times, including the first two touchdowns of the game, continuing a streak of dominance over the Cowboys. He now has nine touchdowns in four career games against Dallas.

Promising trend II: Who needs a well-rounded number one receiver? Apparently not Love. Romeo Doubs became the third different receiver in as many games to surpass 100 yards. Doubs reached that mark in the first half against the Cowboys and finished with six catches for 151 yards and a touchdown.. Last week, it was Jayden Reed (112 yards) against the Bears. The week before, it was Bo Melton (105) against the Vikings.

Fundamental plays: Before Sunday, neither Jaire Alexander nor Darnell Savage had an interception this season. That all changed in the first half. Alexander, who was questionable due to an ankle injury, intercepted Prescott deep in Cowboys territory to set up Jones' second touchdown that made the score 14-0. Then, on the first play after the two-minute warning in the first half, Savage caught one and returned it 64 yards for a 27-0 lead with 1:50 left in the second quarter. It was the Packers' first defensive touchdown in a playoff game since the 2012 divisional round in San Francisco, when Sam Shields had a pick six.

Impressive Next Generation NFL Stat: Savage reached a top speed of 20.82 mph on his pick-six. That was the third-fastest speed on any Packers touchdown this season. -Rob Demovsky

Next game: at San Francisco 49ers on January 20 or 21.

Dallas Cowboys

A season that seemed full of promise – a third straight 12-5 finish, an NFC East title and a path to an NFC Championship Game with two games at AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys went 8-0 in the regular season) ended. with such noise that only questions remain.

The Cowboys were dismantled by the Packers in every way possible.

This leads to questions about the future of coach Mike McCarthy, the long-term viability of quarterback Dak Prescott and the possible departure of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. This is what happens when there is a performance so putrid that it was the biggest home playoff loss in franchise history. The previous worst was a 38-14 loss to the Cleveland Browns in the 1969 Eastern Championship Game.

Since making their last appearance in a conference championship game in 1995, the Cowboys have eight unique playoff appearances. They've done it as a No. 1 seed twice (2007, 2016) and now as a No. 2 seed.

Describe the game in two words: Absolutely regrettable. With a chance to reach an NFC Championship Game through two home games, the Cowboys gave up in the first half, trailing 27-0 at one point.

QB Breakdown: Prescott threw two interceptions in the first half, including one that was returned for a touchdown that increased Green Bay's lead to 27-0. The last time a Cowboys quarterback gave up a pick-six in the playoffs was when Troy Aikman did so in the 1994 NFC Championship Game.

Prescott had a multi-interception game in the regular season (three in San Francisco). It was his second playoff game with multiple picks in the last two years. Prescott, who led the league with 36 touchdown passes, never looked comfortable against a Packers defense that had not been considered elite at any point this season. He lacked the connection between him and receiver CeeDee Lamb, especially in the first half when they failed to connect on four passes. Prescott was 13-of-13 shooting at Lamb in the regular-season finale, and was 9-of-18 on Sunday.

Fundamental game: Let's go back to the third play of the game. The Cowboys had Green Bay in a second-and-13 situation, and Jordan Love found receiver Romeo Doubs for 22 yards in a gaping hole in the Dallas defense with no pressure on him. Nine plays later, the Packers took a lead they would not relinquish. Doubs' catch was a sign of things to come, because the Cowboys couldn't defend him the entire game. In the first three quarters, he had receptions of 22, 26, 39, 15 and 46 yards. The Cowboys had nine games this season in which they did not allow four 20-yard pass plays. Doubs had it only for three quarters.

Worrying trend: Quinn doesn't want to see offense from Kyle Shanahan's tree. Packers coach Matt LaFleur might have been on Quinn's staff in Atlanta, but he took his offense from Shanahan, now the 49ers' coach. Shanahan has beaten the Cowboys in each of the last three seasons, including 42-10 this season in San Francisco. Miami's Mike McDaniel, who trained with Shanahan in San Francisco, was able to get the best of Quinn in December. LaFleur had Quinn's defense under control all day, whether the Cowboys were in man or zone coverage or blitzing or playing coverage. -Todd Archer

Next game: The 2023 Cowboys season is over.