No moral victory

Whew, that was close.

In the days leading up to Sunday's game between the Vikings and Cowboys, the media branded the matchup as a potential win-or-miss the playoffs brawl between two 1-3 teams.

And there was a reason that each team entered the game 1-3.

Dallas might be the only team at this point that could claim to be more dysfunctional than the Vikings. The Cowboys practically gift-wrapped the game for Minnesota and the Vikings did their best job to almost give it right back in their 24-21 victory on Sunday.

It was a chess match of who would be the last team to make a mistake and lose the game. So when Tony Romo completed his second pass to E.J. Henderson with about seven minutes remaining in the game — you thought the buck would stop there and Minnesota would have the last laugh.

Think again. The Vikings couldn't punch the ball in, and settled for a field goal despite the great field position. But their opponent was just like them, and luckily so. On the next drive, the Cowboys couldn't capitalize with their opportunity to take the lead.

And that lateral sequence to end the game was sad because I could easily imagine Minnesota desperately grasping for the same hope at the end of the game. It could've been either team — neither team deserved to win this one.

Earlier, the Cowboys allowed the Vikings to jump back into the game on Percy Harvin's kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half. That shouldn't happen — especially not to start a half. And Dallas left tackle Doug Free failed to even get out of his stance before Jared Allen raced around him to force Romo to throw his first interception of the game. That led to Minnesota's first touchdown.

On defense, the Cowboys gave the Vikings extra chance after extra chance. The pass interference calls killed Dallas.

But the Vikings were right there with the Cowboys and that was the frustrating part.

It seemed like the Minnesota offensive line flipped a coin before each down to decide whether or not Brett Favre would have enough time to throw. And when Favre did have time, he missed a few opportunities himself. Without the Cowboys' turnovers and Harvin's return, this game might've ended differently.

Dallas was able to pick on Lito Sheppard in the passing game and Roy Williams and Dez Bryant benefitted because of it. But in order to be in those situations, Minnesota allowed the Cowboys to swing pass them to death and Romo to scramble several times to keep drives alive.

This win wasn't pretty in any aspect of the game, but that doesn't matter at this point. Chicago, Green Bay and Detroit all lost on Sunday and the Vikings have new life thanks to the Cowboys. A win is a win is a win.

The question still lingers: just how good should Minnesota feel about the win?