ARLINGTON, Texas -- Ezekiel Elliott was one of the last players to leave the Dallas Cowboys' locker room Monday night.
Eric Kendricks, the veteran linebacker, was holding court with reporters on the far end of the locker room when Elliott was asked if he had seen anything like this before.
Elliott paused briefly.
"Covid year," he said before walking out.
The Cowboys' 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night was everything this season has been: A disappointment, just like that 2020 season when the Cowboys finished 6-10.
The Cowboys are now 5-8 with four games to play and a playoff appearance as remote as striking oil in Prosper, Texas.
Did you have Carolina as a favorite in this Sunday's contest against the Cowboys?
Carolina might be playing better than Dallas right now.
"Oh, I'm hurt," Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons said. "I won't wish this on anybody."
The Cowboys just can't catch a break in this 2024 season. Everything that could go wrong has. Just like in 2020.
Injuries to key players have decimated this group. The latest injury occurred Monday night to linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who needed help leaving the field with a serious knee injury in the fourth quarter. This season the Cowboys have lost Dak Prescott, DeMarcus Lawrence, Zack Martin, DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs and Parsons to injuries.
Those are vital pieces to this team.
The Cowboys' running game, something that was missing for a majority of the season, finally arrived Monday night as Rico Dowdle rushed for a career-high 131 yards.
It arrived too late.
CeeDee Lamb, the star receiver on this team, was overshadowed by Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase. This isn't anything against Lamb, who at one point was leading the league in receiving yards, but he had just two catches in the second half against the Bengals. He was targeted just once in the fourth quarter.
How do you not get Lamb the ball? Sometimes it was the coverages and sometimes the pressure backup quarterback Cooper Rush was under Monday.
When Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was under similar pressure, he did what he normally does. He stepped up in the pocket and made the throws to his receivers.
Burrow, who Parsons said would be an MVP favorite if not for the Bengals' 5-8 record, threw for 369 yards and finished with a 112.8 quarterback rating.
Rush, the man tasked with trying to keep up with Burrow, couldn't. It's not Rush's fault. He's not on Burrow's level from a skill standpoint. He did throw two touchdown passes out of his 16 completions.
It didn't matter what the Cowboys did Monday night with a positive run game, Rush connecting for two scores, safety Malik Hooker getting an interception and the defense pressuring Burrow.
This team isn't good enough.
The record tells you this, and just watching things unfold during the season shows they can't get a break. Injuries and special teams miscues. Did you see cornerback Amani Oruwariye try to return a blocked punt Monday night?
Returning blocked kicks has been an issue for this organization going back to Leon Lett. It's like the Cowboys are cursed or something.
The season started with some uncertainty, but injuries, a poor job by the front office to get coach Mike McCarthy some quality depth, and bad luck have hurt the Cowboys.
Overshown's injury struck a nerve.
He was a bright spot. A player with a bright future. And he's hurt again.
"I cried," Parsons said. "That's my little bro, bro. He don't deserve that either. He really don't. To understand what he's having to go through and to be there for him physically. Mentally, it's just so challenging because he's so talented. The year he was having."
The NFL is just brutal.
And this season, the Cowboys season can't overcome it. If anything could go wrong for this team, it has.