The Dallas Cowboys saw their NFL season come to an end with a closely-fought wildcard playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers and led to the home team's fans showing their frustration at the officials by throwing trash in their direction. 

The Cowboys fell to a 23-17 defeat, resulting in Mike McCarthy's team being the only seeded team in the wildcard games to lose to inferior opponents, and was a cruel way to end a season that saw Dallas record their best regular-season record (12-5) since 2016. 

At the beginning of the season, not many would have backed Dallas to have a strong campaign, their last two seasons were both limp failures, and anyone visiting sidelines.io sports betting comparison site before week one wouldn't have been all that keen on McCarthy's men even getting to the playoffs. 

However, it was the manner of their narrow loss that will have stung most, both players and fans. The Cowboys were six down with 30 seconds left on the click when Dak Prescott pushed Dallas to the 41-yard line with just 14 seconds to go, which led to the 49ers calling a timeout.

Prescott then elected to run 17 yards on a designated quarterback run, and as he and his team attempted to speedily get into position ahead of a final play, and as he prepared to stop the clock by throwing the ball down, umpire Ramon George collided with the Cowboys star.

This led to the time expiring, and with that, the Cowboys season came to a rather unceremonious end. As Dak Prescott was leaving the field, he was hit by trash thrown from the crowd, which he was reliably informed wasn't meant for him but was intended for the officials.

Prescott gave credit to fans for their reaction and explained his side of the story;

"We've practiced it," 

"You hand it to the center. The umpire, all he has to do is usually come in and tap the ball. I don't necessarily know exactly ... why the hit (with the official) happened, I guess. Yeah, I know he's going to come in and touch the ball. We could say, 'Yeah, he needs to be closer to the ball,' or whatever, but in hindsight, it's just tough. Just tough to accept."

McCarthy felt that the error would be immediately reviewed and that the lost time would be put back on the clock, but this never transpired.

"I've never seen that come down the way it came down, as far as the collision between the umpire and the quarterback,"

"We were trying to get inside the 30-yard line to set up the last play. The mechanics were intact from our end of it. The communication that I was given on the sideline was that they were reviewing it; they were going to put time back on the clock. The next thing I know, they're running off the field. That's the only facts I have."

"I thought they were going to put time back on the clock,"

Sadly for Dallas, they never did, and another season came down to a disappointing conclusion, and the San Francisco 49ers booked their place in the divisional playoffs, where they'll meet the Green Bay Packers.

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