This Dallas Cowboys team was supposed to be different. 

Three weeks ago, well before Sunday afternoon's 24-22 loss to the New York Jets, the Cowboys were 3-0. Everybody had them listed in the top five in their power rankings. They fell just eight points short of making their first conference championship game this century in 2018, and it looked like that momentum was carrying over into 2019. 

At that point, the Cowboys had the best Super Bowl odds in the NFC.  Nearly a quarter-century after its last dynasty died, it looked like Dallas might finally be a heavyweight again.

Three stunning losses later, those Super Bowl odds have nearly tripled at Caesars. Just like that, it's hard to put the Cowboys on the same level as the New Orleans Saints, the San Francisco 49ers and maybe even the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles, all of whom now possess better championship odds than America's Team.

What happened? 

It's actually rather uncomplicated: The Cowboys spent the first three weeks of the season beating up on teams that are now a combined 3-14, with two of those wins coming against one another.

The pre-Daniel Jones New York Giants, the about-to-fire-their-coach Washington Redskins and the tanking Miami Dolphins made it comically easy on the Dallas defense, while Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was able to pad his stats against cupcakes on three consecutive September Sundays. 

But it turns out Dallas as the NFC's prime Super Bowl contender was an illusion. A lot of us fell for it, and we should try to use the last three weeks as a cautionary tale. 

The Cowboys aren't bad. Prescott is an above-average starting quarterback, running back Ezekiel Elliott is a superstar, the offensive line is stacked when healthy, and they have a handful of star-caliber players on defense. They might still win the fragile NFC East. 

But the Cowboys are not a prime contender. 

A prime contender wouldn't lose three consecutive games in this fashion. 

New Orleans didn't have future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees in Week 4, but the Cowboys let the Saints off the hook with three turnovers and only 10 points in a tough prime-time loss. 

That might have been seen as a mere speed bump had they not fallen behind the Packers by 28 points at home the following Sunday. Aaron Rodgers wasn't at his best that day, but Dallas again turned it over three times in a humiliating defeat. 

And we might even have been willing to give Dallas a pass for an early-season slump if not for what happened Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

That's where the Cowboys spotted the formerly winless Jets a 21-3 margin before the end of the first half, which left them scurrying with no margin for error in a second-half comeback attempt that fell short when Prescott failed to connect with tight end Jason Witten on a two-point conversion with 43 seconds remaining. 

The two-point loss leaves Dallas 2.5 games back of San Francisco, two games back of New Orleans and 1.5 games back of Green Bay. Tiebreakers against the Saints and Packers are already lost for good. And if they fall to the Eagles next week, they'll essentially be a game-and-a-half behind in what appears to be the NFC's worst division. 

Philadelphia lost to Minnesota on Sunday but is 2-1 over the same period in which Dallas has gone 0-3. It's no longer early, the Cowboys are no longer an upper-class contender, and their season is very much on the brink. 

Injuries are undoubtedly a factor. The offense was already without offensive tackles Tyron Smith and La'el Collin and veteran wide receiver Randall Cobb before top wideout Amari Cooper suffered a first-quarter quad injury on Sunday. 

But that excuse only takes you so far when you consider that the Saints continue to win without Brees or that the 49ers won on the road Sunday without key offensive pieces Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey and Kyle Juszczyk.

The Eagles have been ravaged by injuries but have yet to lose three games in a row, the Carolina Panthers are now 4-0 without their starting quarterback, and the Packers dominated the Cowboys on the road last week despite the absence of top receiver Davante Adams. 

Teams are often defined by how they handle injuries, and the Cowboys have proved the opposite of resilient. 

Where's the energy? They haven't scored a first-half touchdown since that Week 3 victory over Miami. 

Where's the sense of desperation? The defense is pretty healthy but has looked flat. They have just three takeaways in their last five games. Beyond poor execution, they've looked ill-prepared, uninspired and borderline disinterested. 

The owner sees it. Following the loss, Jerry Jones went out of his way to point out that Dallas is not "one of the top teams" in the league. 

"I hope that some day this season we could be one of the top teams," he added. "But we're certainly not tonight."

Elliott has traditionally started slow, but it's concerning that he's averaged just 3.5 yards per carry during this losing streak. And while Prescott looked like an MVP candidate two weeks into the season, a zero-touchdown, sub-90-rated performance against the Jets was actually his fourth consecutive mediocre showing. 

He completed 82.3 percent of his passes, averaged 10.9 yards per attempt and posted a seven-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio for a ridiculous 142.9 passer rating those first two weeks. But since then, he's thrown more interceptions (five) than touchdown passes (four).

It might only take a big win over the rival Eagles for Prescott and the Cowboys to redeem themselves. This season is salvageable, especially if they get healthier. But Dallas bombed in New Jersey, and that, combined with duds against New Orleans and Green Bay, confirms that it shouldn't be viewed as a top-tier contender. 

We're allowed to stop pretending this team is different. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.