NFC East faces second straight winless week as Packers rout Cowboys

Jordan Love stood in the pocket at Lambeau Field on Sunday night and picked apart a Dallas defense that came into the game desperately seeking answers. The Green Bay Packers beat the Cowboys 23-13, and in doing so, they may have delivered the final blow to an NFC East that could now go two consecutive weeks without a single divisional victory.

It was a stark contrast to what was happening elsewhere in the league. While the Packers were dismantling Dallas, the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants both fell in their afternoon games. The only drama in the East came a day earlier, when the Giants and Washington Commanders tied in overtime in a game that defied easy explanation. That left the Commanders—sitting at 1-3-1, the division's basement dweller—as the lone hope to avoid historical futility. They would need to beat the undefeated San Francisco 49ers on Monday night, a task that looked nearly impossible.

The Packers' dominance was built on the foundation of Love's comfort in the offense. He completed 23 of 41 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown, connecting with Matthew Golden for 104 receiving yards. This came one week after Love threw for 367 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-7 dismantling of the Chicago Bears. The Packers had won three straight games, a stretch that felt especially significant given how precarious things looked just weeks earlier. After a blowout loss at home to Atlanta in Week 3, coach Mike LaFleur's job security had become a topic of conversation. Now, with back-to-back dominant performances, the team was humming.

The Cowboys' defensive struggles, which had been exposed in a shocking Week 5 loss to Tampa Bay rookie Jalon Daniels in his second career start, remained unresolved. Dallas had brought in Mike Pettine, a veteran defensive mind, as a senior assistant to work alongside defensive coordinator Christian Parker. The hope was that experience could stabilize a unit that had been carved up by inferior competition. Against the Packers, it never materialized. Green Bay's defense added two interceptions of Dak Prescott to their season total of nine, continuing a pattern of takeaways that had become central to their recent success.

What made Sunday night's result particularly striking was the wider divisional context. The NFC North—the Packers' own division—had become a fortress of competence. Green Bay and Chicago both sat at 4-2 after their wins. The Minnesota Vikings remained undefeated at 5-0, and the Detroit Lions, despite a 3-2 record, were on a bye week. Every team in the North had finished above .500 last season, and all had started this year with solid footing. The contrast with the East could not have been sharper.

The Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Commanders had each arrived at this moment with their own collection of problems. There was no clear favorite, no team that had broken away from the pack as often happened in recent seasons. The 2020 Washington team had won the division at 7-9, a cautionary tale about how weak the East could become. Whether this year's group was headed in that direction remained to be seen, but two consecutive weeks without a divisional victory would suggest something systemic was wrong.

With the Commanders facing San Francisco on Monday night, the East had one final chance to avoid the ignominy of a second straight winless week. The 49ers were unbeaten and playing at a level that made them among the league's most dangerous teams. For Washington, already struggling at 1-3-1, the odds were long. If the Commanders lost, it would mark a historic low point for a division that, just seasons ago, had been competitive enough to produce playoff teams. The football world would be watching to see if the East could salvage even a shred of dignity.