Box Score of the Day: November 18

November 18, 1996

In Week 12 of the 1996 season, the 6-4 Cowboys hosted the 8-2 Packers on Monday Night Football. The Packers, in the middle of a rare three-game road trip, had just lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, despite coming back from a 27-6 third quarter deficit to pull within a score. Still 8-2, the Packers had a three-game lead over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Central. The Cowboys, meanwhile, came in having won five of their last six games, overcoming a 1-3 start to reassert themselves as an NFC power. The defending Super Bowl champions were still one of the league's best defenses, but were having trouble passing the ball effectively.

This rivalry had been rekindled in the 1990s when the Cowboys rose back to the top of the NFL, and Brett Favre and Reggie White made the Packers relevant for the first time in 20 years. The last time the teams met, the Cowboys beat Green Bay decidedly in the 1995 NFC Championship. In fact, the Cowboys had knocked the Packers out of the playoffs in 1994 and 1993.

The Packers played this Monday night game with out their starting receivers Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman, and with out starting tight end Mark Chumura. The Packers were unable to move the ball in the first half, and punted on every possession in the first two quarters. The Cowboys were able to move the ball just fine, but couldn't put the ball in the end zone. They led 15-0 on five Chris Boniol field goals, all 45 yards or shorter.

The Packers didn't score until the last two minutes of the game on a touchdown pass from Favre to Derrick Mayes, making the score 18-6. The Packers missed the two-point conversion, and after Boniol put three more points on the board for Dallas, he had made more field goals (7) than the Packers had scored points (6). The 21-6 final was the ugly confirmation of an ugly game between two NFL power houses.

The Cowboys finished the 1996 season 10-6, and won a playoff game for the sixth straight season when they rolled the Vikings 40-15. Their season came to end the following week in Carolina, where they lost to the upstart Panthers. The Packers would not lose another game in 1996. They put together a six-game winning streak to end the season and won three playoff games, including the Super Bowl, by two touchdowns or more.