Somehow, it’s already mid-November, which means it’s time for the Cowboys’ annual 3-games-in-12-days stretch, as they play on Sunday-Thursday-Thursday for the next three weeks.

It’s been a disastrous season so far for the Cowboys, who enter Sunday’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings with just a 2-7 record. Dak Prescott is out for the season, Tyron Smith is out for the season, La’el Collins is…ok you get it.

This team is really banged up, and there’s excuse after excuse for why they should just tank out the rest of the year and move on to 2021. And, most likely, that’s what will happen. Maybe they’ll sneak in a couple of wins to finish out the year, but this will be a team that’s picking in the top 10 of the 2021 draft. Almost without question.

Almost…

On the other hand, the NFC East is terrible. Dallas is 2-7, but that puts them right in the middle of a race for a home playoff game. And these next five days could drastically alter their chances at earning a postseason birth.

If, in some weird world, the Cowboys pull off the upset on Sunday against a streaking Vikings team, they’ll then get a home game with lowly Washington. While Washington did blow the Cowboys out just a few weeks ago, we saw much more fight from Dallas the last time they played.

So…maybe it’s a new Cowboys team?

The current division leaders in Philadelphia could be about to enter a tailspin. They just lost to the Giants a week ago, and now they face a murderer’s row of Cleveland, Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans, and Arizona. Are they even going to win before their week 16 game with Dallas? It’s a valid question.

Theoretically, the Cowboys could finish out November in first place in the NFC East, but it’s going to take a defensive and special teams effort the likes of which we saw against the Steelers, and an offensive effort like we haven’t seen since Dak Prescott went down.

Either way, it has to start this Sunday with the Vikings.