ARLINGTON, Texas – A little more than two months ago, everything seemed to be fine.

Dak Prescott stood in a small interview room at Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Field after the Dallas Cowboys opened the season with a win against the Browns on September 8. Hours earlier, the quarterback agreed to a contract that would make him the highest-paid player in the world. NFL history: Four years, $240 million, $231 million guaranteed.

It all seemed possible.

Until it wasn’t anymore.

On Wednesday, Prescott could undergo season-ending surgery to repair a partial avulsion of his right hamstring, but the Cowboys’ season will continue. Prescott will fly to New York on Monday morning to meet with a specialist. If there is agreement that surgery is the best route, Prescott will need three months to recover.

The first game without Prescott ended in a 34-6 loss to the visiting Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Cooper Rush and Trey Lance combined for 66 yards. The Cowboys turned the ball over five times.

“I don’t want to be sarcastic, but do you have the same arithmetic as me? We’ve won three games with Dak,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after the game. “So I’m just saying we didn’t play well with Dak. Not at all. So there’s a lot to work on here, and we’re all aware of that, and (it’s) very concerning.”

It was the fourth straight home loss for the Cowboys. In 2015, they lost five straight home games en route to a 4-12 finish when quarterback Tony Romo suffered two broken collarbones.

That season, the Cowboys tried to put together their quarterback room, first with Brandon Weeden, then with a trade for Matt Cassel from the Buffalo Bills. Ultimately, Kellen Moore started the last two games of the season.

This season, the Cowboys have Rush, now 5-2, replacing Prescott during his tenure with the Cowboys, with both losses coming against the Eagles. In 2022, he lost to Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field in what was his last start before Prescott returned after a broken right thumb.

On Sunday, Rush completed 13 of 23 passes for 46 yards. He was sacked once and lost a fumble in the first quarter.

Like Prescott last offseason, Rush will be an unrestricted free agent next season. He has gone from an undrafted free agent who was on the roster in 2017, to being released by the team in 2020 and a legitimate backup from 2021 to 2024.

He turns 31 in two weeks and is what he is at this point in his career: a backup.

Lance, the No. 3 overall pick in 2021 by the San Francisco 49ers, will also be an unrestricted free agent when the season ends. Acquired for a fourth-round pick that partially prevented the Cowboys from selecting a running back in last spring’s draft, Lance remains a mystery. In the second half against Philadelphia, he completed four of six passes for 21 yards and was intercepted once.

He’s 24, younger than 2024 first-round pick Bo Nix (Broncos) and Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons). If the Cowboys’ season continues to end, why not see if Lance could be Prescott’s backup in 2025 or potentially a compensatory pick in 2026 if he performs well? Jones wasn’t ready for it on Sunday.

“We’re going to have to play better than we’re playing right now,” Jones said. “No, I don’t know if there are answers outside the organization (at quarterback). But we’ll have to play better at all positions than we did tonight.”

Lance got a chance in the preseason, and while he showed talent at times, most remember the five interceptions he threw in the preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers.

“I feel like I’m in a really good place right now,” Lance said last week about understanding the offense. “After going through the whole offseason program, training camp and everything, having a whole year and counting under my belt, and being around these guys, it helps a lot.”

Coach Mike McCarthy may be in the toughest position of anyone in the organization.

Like the backup quarterbacks, McCarthy does not have a contract beyond this season. His job security has been talked about since the Cowboys’ wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers in January.

The Cowboys’ season is no longer about a prolonged playoff appearance, barring something resembling a miracle. For McCarthy, it’s about how he keeps a team together when there’s nothing to play for but pride and individual stats.

“I don’t believe we will make a coaching change during the season,” Jones said Sunday.

When injuries – especially to the starting quarterback – consume a season, a team’s struggles can mean more to Jones than wins. Keyword: maybe. Especially since McCarthy was hired to do what Jason Garrett couldn’t: get deep into the postseason.

But in two of McCarthy’s five seasons, Prescott didn’t get past half a season. In the fifth game of the 2020 season, he suffered a dislocated and complicated broken right ankle.

The Cowboys started three different quarterbacks after that injury – Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, Garrett Gilbert – and finished 6-10.

This season, Prescott suffered his injury in the eighth game of a 17-game season. Even before the injury, he wasn’t having his best season, throwing 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions, one shy of his 2023 interception total when he started every game.

And now the Cowboys are 3-6.

Eight games remain in what is increasingly looking like a lost season, just like 2015.

The final autopsy of the 2024 season will take place in early January.

Until then, the Cowboys will continue playing without Prescott.