The Washington Commanders could not overcome the Dallas Cowboys and dropped their third straight game, 34-26, at Northwest Stadium. Here are five takeaways from the matchup.

1. The offensive mistakes.

The frustration was all over the players' faces as they got dressed and headed out of the locker room Sunday night. There's no such thing as a good loss, but a big reason for how the players felt stemmed partly from too many self-inflicted errors.

The turnovers were the obvious ones, and two of them were backbreakers. The first came after Phidarian Mathis had blocked a punt and set the Commanders up at the Cowboys' 39-yard line. Brian Robinson Jr. had a screen pass ripped away from him by Chauncey Golston, destroying an opportunity for the Commanders to build some much-needed momentum. The next came after the Cowboys took a 10-9 lead, when Jayden Daniels' first pass of the drive was fumbled by John Bates, leading to another Cowboys' touchdown. The final, which came on a Hail Mary, ended the game.

But there were other problems with Washington's offense, despite the 415 yards it ended the night with. The Commanders went through long stretches without much movement; they missed a field goal in the first quarter, and that was followed by four punts and Daniels' first interception. During that stretch, the Commanders' drives were limited to three, 12, 11 and 29 yards. Then, following a 10-play, 60-yard touchdown drive to start the second half, the Commanders had three straight three-and-outs where they were held to 12 yards.

2. The defense played well through three quarters again.

Although there were some critical mistakes in the fourth quarter, Washington continued its trend of playing well for most of the game against the Cowboys.

Some of the stats from the Cowboys' players might look like solid performances. Cooper Rush, for example, completed 75% of his passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Rico Dowdle had his second-best game of the season with 86 yards. Backup tight end Luke Schoonmaker filled in nicely for Jake Ferguson, catching three passes for 55 yards and a touchdown.

And yet, the Cowboys' offense didn't get going until the fourth quarter. They got into Washington territory on their first two drives but had to settle for field goal attempts, neither of which resulted in points. Like the Commanders, their offense also ran into ruts throughout the afternoon, as they punted three times and gave up a fumble in the first half. It wasn't until Jalen Brooks made a wild 41-yard grab that they were able to tie things up at 3-3.

The mistakes started to come in the second half, though, and they were made at the worst possible times. Noah Igbinoghene was called for pass interference at the 3-yard line, making it easy for the Cowboys to find pay dirt. Then, following Bates' fumble, Schoonmaker broke loose wide open up the middle of the defense for a 22-yard touchdown.

The defense forced five punts, forced a turnover and held the offense to 20 points, which normally would give Washington a chance to win. The late mistakes, however, ended up overshadowing the other positives.

3. Special teams played a massive role.

The Commanders have had a strong special teams unit for most of the season, and there were moments when the group shined against the Cowboys. There were also plays that ended up costing the team a chance at grabbing a last-minute victory.

We'll start with the good. Quan Martin blocked a field goal on the Cowboys' opening drive that was picked up by Michael Davis and ran back to the Cowboys 40-yard line. Mathis also broke through the middle of Dallas' punt formation later in the second quarter to block Bryan Anger's kick, giving the offense prime field position. It was the first time since 1977 that a Washington team blocked a field goal and blocked a punt in a single game and the first time a team has done it since the New York Jets in 2022.

The big mistakes came in the fourth quarter. After Washington had cut Dallas' lead to a field goal with a Zach Ertz touchdown and Daniels two-point conversion, the plan was for Austin Seibert to send the ensuing kickoff to KaVontae Turpin in such a way that it would be difficult for him to catch it. That part worked, but there was an open gap in Washington's coverage that Turpin sprinted through and ran 99 yards for the touchdown.

There was also the onside kick after Terry McLaurin's score, which saw Juanyeh Thomas run 43 yards to the end zone.

4. The wildest final six minutes you'll see.

Both Washington and Dallas found it difficult to find any momentum on offense and put up points to start the day. The two teams had combined for just six points and 291 yards. There was much of the same in the second half, and then the final five minutes came around.

It started with the Cowboys capitalizing on Bates' fumble and only needing five plays to turn their four-point lead into a two-score advantage with Schoonmaker's score. Then, after being sluggish for most of the day, Washington's offense came alive with 69 yards on nine plays and cut the deficit down to a field goal. That was immediately followed by Turpin' kickoff return, which put them up by 10 points.

The Commanders responded with a field goal and needed their defense to get a stop and provide them with another shot at tying the score. They got it, and on the first play, Daniels found McLaurin for an 86-yard catch-and-run up the sideline -- the longest touchdown of his career.

But disaster struck when Seibert's extra point attempt sailed wide left. That meant Washington needed to try an onside kick, which Thomas returned to make the score 34-26.

In total, the Commanders and Cowboys combined for 35 points in the last six minutes.

5. How to get back on track?

It seems like a while ago that the Commanders were riding high off a 7-2 start and sitting in first place of the NFC East. But the past two weeks have caused the positive vibes to sink dramatically, and now at 7-5, the Commanders are still looking to get back on track.

The most frustrating part is that, had Washington managed to overcome one or two of their own mistakes against the Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys, the team could be 10-2 right now and pushing for the No. 1 seed in the NFC bracket of the postseason. But the self-inflicted wounds piled up in each matchup, and despite the Commanders fighting to the end, they created obstacles that were too much to overcome.

Fortunately, even after a three-game skid, there is still time for the Commanders to correct their errors and get a firmer grasp on a playoff spot. With three more home games and the bye week, the odds are still in Washington's favor to make a postseason appearance.

The last three games have provided plenty of lessons for the Commanders to learn from. But as coach Dan Quinn alluded after Sunday's game, it will take more than learning from experience to win games. They needed to apply those lessons to have success.