RT đ¨ LOCKER ROOM MELTDOWN: One Missed Kick⌠And the Cowboysâ Season Nearly Tore Itself Apart đłđ
The Dallas Cowboysâ 34â26 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings didnât just mark another loss in a collapsing season â it nearly extinguished the franchiseâs remaining playoff hopes. And in the aftermath, kicker Brandon Aubrey revealed that the emotional fallout inside the locker room was just as painful as the result on the field.
Aubrey, who had been one of the Cowboysâ most reliable performers throughout the 2025 season, endured a rare and costly night. Two missed field goals â including a critical long attempt in the fourth quarter â loomed large in a game where Dallas repeatedly settled for three points while Minnesota found the end zone.

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Following the game, Aubrey acknowledged that tensions boiled over in the locker room. According to the kicker, a defensive leader confronted him directly, voicing the collective frustration of a team that felt its postseason dreams slipping away.
âHe didnât sugarcoat it,â Aubrey said. âHe told me straight up that in games like this, every mistake echoes through the whole season. I understood exactly where he was coming from.â
Sources inside the organization described the locker room atmosphere as raw and emotionally charged. Defensive players, who felt they had kept the game within reach despite limited pressure and missed opportunities, struggled to process how narrow margins once again tilted against Dallas.
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Aubrey did not push back or deflect blame. Instead, he described the exchange as difficult but necessary.
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âThis league doesnât give you room to hide,â Aubrey said. âWhen you miss in moments like that, you owe it to your teammates to own it â fully. I didnât make the kicks we needed, and I have to live with that.â
The loss dropped the Cowboys deeper into the NFC playoff hole, with models now giving them less than a one percent chance of reaching the postseason. For a team that entered the year with championship aspirations, the emotional weight of that reality was evident.
No altercation followed the confrontation. There were no raised voices afterward â only silence. Several players later described it as the kind of moment that defines whether a locker room fractures or hardens together.
For Aubrey, Sunday night was a sobering reminder of the NFLâs unforgiving nature. One swing of the leg can validate a season â or unravel it.
And for the Cowboys, the defeat against Minnesota may be remembered not just for the scoreline, but for the night when frustration finally boiled over, laying bare the cost of missed chances and fading belief
