The Dallas Cowboys' season ended with a 34-31 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round Sunday. Here is a look at the season and what's next:

Season grade: A

Season summary: You can be disappointed the Cowboys were not able to secure their sixth Super Bowl trophy, but that should not dampen the mood from a season that was as unexpected as any in recent memory. When Tony Romo went down Aug. 25 with a compression fracture in his back, the hopes many had were dashed before the first regular-season game, but then Dak Prescott had one of the best -- if not the best -- seasons in NFL history by a rookie quarterback. Ezekiel Elliott dealt with high expectations as the No. 4 overall pick and over-delivered, leading the NFL in rushing. The offensive line was the best in football. Defensively, the unit exceeded expectations with only one star player in Sean Lee. Jason Garrett deserves credit for how the team dealt with the adversities of the season, such as Romo's injury and injuries to other starters and suspensions. Dallas tied the franchise record for most wins in a season (13) and set the franchise mark with 11 wins in a row. The Cowboys have plenty of decisions to make in the offseason, but this is still a team that has a young core of talent that should grow together, led by Prescott and Elliott. Even through this loss, the future for the Cowboys looks exceedingly bright.

Biggest draft need: Some of it depends on what the Cowboys do in free agency, but, like last year and the year before that, they have to find pass-rush help. They drafted DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory in the second round in two of the past three drafts and each had just one sack this season; however, it was mostly because of suspension and, in Lawrence's case, injury. The Cowboys went through the process of building the offensive line through the draft and must make the commitment to do the same at defensive end. Picking late in the first round will make that job tougher, but they have to find players who can affect the opposing quarterback.

Key offseason questions:

What happens to Tony Romo? This will be the story of the NFL's offseason. Jerry Jones can say it is possible to keep Romo and his $24.7 million cap figure in 2017 all he wants, but it's just not practical. Prescott won the job after Romo's injury and kept the job after Romo returned. Romo turns 37 in April and has played two full games since 2014. The relationship between Jones and Romo should mean that a split will be amicable. Jones will not trade the quarterback to a team that he doesn't want to play for. That limits the field and could lead to a release instead of a trade. Romo can refuse a trade simply by saying he will retire. He said in November the competitive fire still burns, but the Cowboys are the only team he has ever known. We know he can still play, but does he want to play? There is no timetable on a potential move, but by early spring this should be worked out either way.

Do the Cowboys revamp the secondary? Brandon Carr, Barry Church, Morris Claiborne and J.J. Wilcox are free agents. Carr played in every game and almost every snap. He had just one interception but had his best season. Church missed four games with a fractured forearm but continued to make plays and the defense was better with him on the field. Wilcox rebounded with a solid season mostly in a reserve role and is the defense's biggest hitter. Claiborne was off to his best start but missed nine games with a groin injury. The Cowboys would rather keep their own than sign other free agents and they don't have a safety ready to move into a starting role, so Church could be back. Carr's durability is a plus over Claiborne but Claiborne is younger. One of the two could be back, but the price on both might be good enough for the Cowboys to keep them together for another season.

Can the Cowboys stand success? They went 12-4 in 2014 and appeared to be on the upswing. Then they finished 4-12 in 2015. Most of that had to do with losing Romo to a broken collarbone -- twice -- for 12 games. Prescott has room to grow and a year of experience should do him a world of good. Elliott played with a possible suspension looming over his head the entire season and the NFL has still not officially cleared him. The Cowboys are about to go through a change in leadership with Romo expected to be elsewhere and Jason Witten potentially looking at retirement. Garrett has shown he can take a team that had low expectations outside the building and succeed. He did it in 2014 and this season. Now he has to show he can lead a team that will be expected to be successful and keep the work level the same, potentially without a proven leader like Witten to keep things sailing smoothly.