Kyle Shanahan completely torched Cowboys in preparation for Packers game

It's been a rough few days for the Dallas Cowboys, and it's not going to get any easier. Privately, Jerry Jones and Co. will be having very serious conversations about the future of the franchise, which will likely lead to coaches getting fired and players getting cut. In the public eye, America's Team will spend most of this offseason as the butt of many jokes.

That's what happens when a team loses in such an embarrassing fashion, especially when that team is as boisterous and heavily favored as the Cowboys were heading into their Wild Card matchup against the Green Bay Packers.

The Cowboys, who were the only team to go undefeated at home during the regular season, lost 48-32. While Green Bay became the first franchise to win a playoff game as the No. 7 seed team, the Cowboys will now head into an offseason of mockery, where every comment can be seen as a slight against them.

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan knew Cowboys wouldn't beat Packers by the second quarter

The San Francisco 49ers had the luxury of a postseason bye week as the NFC's No. 1 seed, but they still had a vested interest in the Packers-Cowboys game. Green Bay's victory would mean that the seventh-seed Packers would face the 49ers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

The game was so lopsided that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan began to prepare for the Packers "about halfway through the second quarter."

Who can blame him? Coaches are always looking for the slighest edge, and in Shanahan's case, that edge came from getting an extra hour or two of preparation for his upcoming opponent. Besides, anyone familiar with the Cowboys' postseason woes could tell where that game was going.

Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott threw an interception before he gained a single passing yard. At the end of the first quarter, Dallas trailed Green Bay, 7-0. The first play of the second quarter resulted in another Green Bay touchdown, extending their lead to 14-0.

By the mid-point of the second quarter, they were on the verge of scoring their third touchdown to take a 20-0 lead. At the two-minute warning, Green Bay safety Darnell Savage returned a Prescott interception for a touchdown, making the lead 27-0. An argument could be made that the game was decided after any one of those scores.

Dallas technically could have won the game, since miraculous comebacks happen in the NFL. Shanahan knows that well — after all, he was the Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator when Tom Brady's New England Patriots climbed out of a 28-3 deficit in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI. Still, those sort of comebacks require a mental toughness that Dallas hasn't shown — and the Cowboys didn't have Tom Brady either.

Regardless, Shanahan added that his early scouting wasn't just focused on the Packers. He said the 49ers were getting an early look at multiple teams in the first half, shifted to Green Bay midway through the second quarter, and went all-in on Green Bay in the third quarter.

Hopefully, that extra time helped Shanahan scheme up some plays to keep pace with the red-hot Packers. After a sluggish start to the season, Packers quarterback Jordan Love has led the league in passer rating since Week 12 (90.4), according to PFF. The 49ers defense is hoping to put an end to the young starter's meteoric rise.