Vikings 24, Cowboys 21: My Top 10 Observations

10. Bad as this looks - and 1-4 is bad - the season isn't over. I know history says they have a 95 percent chance of missing the playoffs, but no one in the NFC is worth a damn. A 10-win season and, yes, a division championship is still possible. And much as he might deserve it, head coach Wade "Stumbledoofus" Phillips isn't getting fired during the season. Owner Jerry Jones doesn't fire coaches in-season and with a possible lockout looming in 2011 it wouldn't make sense at this point anyway. So stop it.

9. I know this has gotten old, but the Cowboys again won the stats and lost the score. If I would've told you before the game that Dallas was going to out-gain Minnesota by 126 yards and hold in check Randy Moss (55 yards), Adrian Peterson (3 yards per carry) and Brett Favre (118 yards) you would've chalked up a win. Me too. Hard to fathom, or explain how this statistically superior team is 1-4. A lot of teams win ugly; the Cowboys lose pretty.

8. Fitting that the game's final, futile play featured the Cowboys frantically throwing laterals in total chaos. This team has deteriorated into a Benny Hill bit where everybody chases everybody, someone falls down and at least one person loses their trousers.

7. Of Dallas' 11 penalties, Alan Ball's was the most damaging. Dez Bryant returned a punt 34 yards to Minnesota's 42 to set up shop late in a tie game. Instead, Ball was called for clearly holding a Vikings' gunner, pushing the Cowboys back to their own 14. Three plays later quarterback Tony Romo combined a mis-read and a lazy throw into a game-losing interception. This just in: The Cowboys' safeties suck. And they're no better on special teams.

Read the rest of Richie's Observations at his Sportatorium blog at DallasObserver.com.