ARLINGTON, Texas -- At the end of the day, the Dallas Cowboys are going to be the Dallas Cowboys.

It’s just that kind of season.

While Sunday’s 24-19 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers offered hope because of some heart and guile that had not been much on display since Dak Prescott’s season-ending ankle injury, how the Cowboys lost showed just how far they have to go.

Key defensive penalties late in the fourth quarter on Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, even if dubious in Smith's case, led to Steelers points, including Eric Ebron’s go-ahead touchdown with 2:14 to play.

Ebron leaped over Saivion Smith at the 2 for the score, and Smith was playing only because the Cowboys’ best cornerback, Trevon Diggs, was out with a foot injury. Jaylon Smith’s controversial illegal contact penalty wiped out a sack/fumble caused by Tyrone Crawford and recovered by Aldon Smith. Vander Esch was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the next play to put Pittsburgh in field goal position.

Jaylon Smith's roughing-the-passer penalty wiped out what would have been a fourth-and-10 try for the Steelers on their next drive. Four plays later Ebron was in the end zone.

The offense had no answer but came close. Garrett Gilbert, the fourth starting quarterback the Cowboys have used this season, was sacked on a fourth-down try by Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt, whom the Cowboys bypassed in the 2017 draft to take Taco Charlton in the first round.

After the defense got a fourth-down stop, Gilbert drove the Cowboys to the Pittsburgh 23 with four seconds to play, but his final attempt in the end zone fell incomplete.

So close, yet so far.

The Cowboys were in position to take command earlier in the fourth quarter when they were leading, 19-15. At the Steelers' 5, Gilbert was hit as he threw, allowing Minkah Fitzpatrick a chance for the interception. Instead of taking either a 7-point lead with a field goal or scoring a touchdown, the Cowboys saw Pittsburgh answer with a field goal after the takeaway.

In the second quarter, CeeDee Lamb lost a fumble that Pittsburgh turned into another field goal. And, of course, those points came in the most 2020 Cowboys way possible. Chris Boswell’s 54-yard attempt was hooked to the left, but the Steelers were flagged for a false start.

He drilled his 59-yarder at the end of the half.

Although penalties and turnovers in the second half played a greater role in the final outcome, the sequence was emblematic of the Cowboys' season.

So instead of knocking off the NFL’s last undefeated team, the Cowboys are 2-7, their worst record through nine games since 2015, and remain in third place in the NFC East only because of their win earlier in the season against the New York Giants.

QB breakdown: Gilbert cannot be faulted, his interception notwithstanding. He might have held on to the ball a tad too long in getting hit to allow the Fitzpatrick pick, but he showed poise and command, something rookie Ben DiNucci did not show last week. He finished with 243 yards on 21-of-38 passing with one touchdown and one pick. He also ran for 28 yards on three carries. Dalton is expected to come off the reserve/COVID-19 list and be able to play the Cowboys’ next game, Nov. 22, at the Minnesota Vikings, but Gilbert showed something. It wasn’t always great. It was mostly good. And he at least had a touchdown drive. The Cowboys came into the game with only one in their 36 possessions after losing Prescott.

Bold prediction for next week: The Cowboys will not lose next week. Of course, they won’t play either. They have their bye, which is good news for a team that has lost four games in a row and is in a free fall.