The Dallas Cowboys are disappointing these days. In terms of football operations and goals, they are a bad team and also boring, which only makes matters worse. A lot of this was predictable over the course of the offseason where they decided not to do anything, and the constant baiting and criticism from the front office only served to piss people off.

On Sunday night, the Cowboys lost to a bitter rival, the San Francisco 49ers. It was the fourth straight loss for Dallas, specifically inflicted on San Francisco, who have had two infamous playoff defeats in the last few years.

Admittedly, this wasn't the strong version of the 49ers that had dismantled the Cowboys in the past, but they still had relatively no trouble rising to the challenge and proving to be the better team in every way. Expectations for the Cowboys around the proverbial water cooler have dropped dramatically, so with a lead at halftime (10-6, very strong), they had a positive shock for the evening before everything got out of hand.

We've all seen tough times for the Cowboys before, but this particular level of chaos isn't often reached.

Here are our thoughts on what we just saw after a good night's sleep, although that didn't do much to make a difference.

The losses always hurt, but the passion that comes with them feels so far away right now

It has often been said that the playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers broke Dallas Cowboys fans. It's hard to counteract that these days.

Sunday's loss came again against a conference rival that has owned the Cowboys for some time. In the past, when the Cowboys have seemingly faced such circumstances, we have embraced the challenge of all odds. We relished the opportunity to prove everyone wrong.

This passion, if you want to call it that, seems to be missing even from the Cowboys themselves at the moment. When they led San Francisco it was fun, but our worst fears remained at the forefront of our minds, not even in the background. When the 49ers poured it on, everything felt dry and dry, as if we were watching it from some sort of isolated room.

Maybe you were really into the pseudo-comeback, but it felt so impossible, which showed in the team's probability of victory. According to NFL Pro, the value on the Dallas side never rose above 5% in the entire fourth quarter.

The passion is missing at the moment. And that really stinks.

A lot of things got us here, but Dak Prescott needs to get better

It would be difficult to count the number of words I've said in Dak Prescott's defense – that he's a franchise-caliber quarterback, meaning he's worth paying the going rate. Of course, the Cowboys should never have dragged out contract negotiations as long as possible for the price to be as high as it became. They should have swallowed their pride and gotten it done as quickly as possible to get the best possible price.

But whatever the number, the reality is that Prescott is paid the market wage among franchise quarterbacks, coincidentally, his number is currently the highest. He doesn't have a proper cast at the moment, but other than that he was pretty terrible in his own performance.

Whether the Cowboys pay him or not, and this is very clear, Prescott plays the quarterback position where fame and blame vary. He's one of the main reasons the team is in such a panic, and their careless approach to football is one of the main reasons why.

Prescott has had some interesting moments in public discussion since training camp. While in Oxnard, he noted that fans needed to let go of last year's failures, saying that it probably hurt the team more than anyone else. After the loss to the Baltimore Ravens, he urged people to “drop” (i.e. stop supporting) the team if they wanted to at that point. Keep in mind that they have been a .500 team since then, with the two wins coming against two weak teams and the two losses coming in pretty embarrassing fashion. Maybe the toll of being a Cowboys quarterback is actually taking its toll.

Whatever the case, this season was hardly the best for Dak Prescott with a star on his helmet. This doesn't help the fact that the cast around him is bad, or that the contract situation with him has reached the point where it has, and that everything exists in a terrible universe that we're trapped in.

Dallas Cowboys football hasn't been this fun in a long time

This is a serious question: When was the last time you had fun cheering on the Dallas Cowboys?

Maybe you say from the season opener against the Cleveland Browns, but personally that day was pretty chaotic with the aforementioned Prescott contract coming about just hours before kickoff.

If I really had to answer when was the last time I had fun, I'd probably say it was the second-to-last regular season game for Dallas in 2023, the last time we saw them win in their home game. That was the night the Cowboys defeated the Detroit Lions in controversial fashion, CeeDee Lamb set the individual team records, And Jimmy Johnson eventually entered Ring of Honor.

It felt like all the proverbial stars were aligned, despite the controversial ending. The Cowboys were poised for the best playoff run since Jimmy himself was on the sideline, and from that moment on, pretty much everything was a collective basket case of bad fun.

We are no longer early in the season. It's not Week 3. This week brings Halloween and over the weekend the calendar flips to November as the clocks go back. It's deep enough to have a clear opinion, and the most important thing is that none of it is fun.

Can the fun be restored before it's too late? That feels unlikely.

We're stuck here. For now. And for some time afterwards.