ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Micah Parsons rocked back and forth on the bench in agony after Cincinnati scored the winning touchdown on a botched blocked punt by his Dallas Cowboys.

The star pass rusher couldn’t bear to watch it end, so he left the field before the clock reached zero in the Bengals’ 27-20 win Monday night.

Joe Burrow’s game-winning 40-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase with 1:01 left was only possible because the Cowboys touched a blocked punt in the final two minutes that would have put them in position to win.

“Oh, it hurt me,” Parsons said in the locker room, the normally garrulous two-time All-Pro pausing to try to find the right words. “I won’t wish that on anyone. To be honest, it’s hard to put into words, bro.”

The Cowboys were about to get the ball back when Nick Vigil blocked Ryan Rehkow’s punt.

Amani Oruwariye attempted to deflect the bouncing ball, even though leaving him alone would have given Dallas possession. Oruwariye couldn’t hold on and the Bengals’ Maema Njongmeta recovered at the Cincinnati 43-yard line with 1:53 left.

The Burrow-Chase winner came three plays later with 1:01 left. Dallas only got as far as the 48-yard line before committing a turnover on downs with 24 seconds left.

The Cowboys (5-8) were very likely to have made the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Those hopes are now all but gone. Before the game against Cincinnati, Dallas had won two straight after losing five times.

“That loss hurt me more than any loss this year, probably even worse than a playoff loss, to be honest, because of where we went, how we played and played good football,” Parsons said. “I’ll sit on it, but I’ve got to find a way to keep these guys alive. There’s still football to be played.”

For the Cowboys, Oruwariye’s gaffe on a snowy Thanksgiving Day in 1993 at Texas Stadium was hauntingly familiar.

Leon Lett inexplicably slid onto the snow-covered field to try to recover a blocked field goal in the final seconds that would have given Dallas a victory over Miami. The Dolphins rallied and scored a field goal on the final play of the game for a 16-14 win.

On that bitterly cold day 31 years ago, owner Jerry Jones was shown celebrating on the sidelines after the block, the smile slowly fading as he realized something was still happening on the field.

These Cowboys were good enough to bounce back and win their second straight Super Bowl, part of the NFL’s first streak of three championships in four seasons.

These Cowboys are trying to win without star quarterback Dak Prescott and seven-time All-Pro right guard Zack Martin, among others. Prescott had season-ending surgery for a torn hamstring last month, and Martin faces season-ending ankle surgery next week.

“This locker room is truly devastated by the turn of events surrounding the blocked kick,” Jones said. “Of course we made a block kick call and then we had one and so many chances that went against us and we all said, ‘Well, why are we blocking the kick? Just take the kick, get the field goal and shoot it.’ .’ We will all question that again.”

Special teams coach John Fassel frantically waved from the sideline for all his players to get away from the ball after the block, but Oruwariye never hesitated to try to grab it.

Two of Oruwariye’s fellow defensemen, Jourdan Lewis and special teams star CJ Goodwin, kept reporters away from the sixth-grader in the locker room.

“None of us played a perfect game,” Lewis said. “We can’t judge anyone based on a single decision. He thought he could make a difference. All we can do is learn from it and support him.”

McCarthy had no problem with Parsons leaving the bench before the game was over.

“Everyone is frustrated, without a doubt, and rightly so,” McCarthy said. “I would have expected that. These guys poured their hearts out tonight. Everyone is disappointed.”

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