Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not see this coming.
After the Cowboys won the NFC East and entered the NFL Playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the NFC, expectations were high that this could be the year that Dallas breaks through to the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1995.
Instead, it was more of the same, an embarrassing 48-32 blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers to end the Cowboys' season in the NFC Wild Card round.
"On a personal basis," Jones told reporters. "I'm fooled again."
Prior to the playoffs getting underway, there was some speculation that head coach Mike McCarthy's job could be at stake if the Cowboys suffered a third consecutive early exit, after winning 12 games each of the past three seasons.
McCarthy's job might be in doubt, but Jones declined to address his status as the team's head coach in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's loss.
"I don't have any thoughts about the reasons why," Jones told reporters. "Or anything to do with the coaches or the players. I want to give Green Bay a lot of compliments and credit. This is one of my most surprises since I've been in sports, period."
Throughout Sunday's game, cameras repeatedly caught Jones seething in the owner's box of AT&T Stadium, and afterwards the 81-year old admitted that this was one of the toughest losses he has been a part of.
"I don't have really, I can't reach back and look at a playoff loss," Jones said. "But, this seems like the most painful. Because we all had such great expectation, and we had hope for this team. I thought we were aligned and in great shape, and that didn't happen ... I won't get into any of the addressing of any aspects or any part of it. From the coaching to the players to what's around the corner."
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Time will tell whether Jones makes wholesale changes after another Cowboys season comes to an end in familiar fashion, far sooner than he or the organization expected. But, Jones' disappointment and frustration is palpable.
"There's no world's smallest violin for me being fooled," Jones said. "I get that. I understand that. I know where the responsibility starts and ends. I've got that real clear. That's not the point. I'm disappointed for everybody."
