ARLINGTON, Texas – In reflecting on his Dallas Cowboys having won just three of their first nine games, first-year coach Brian Schottenheimer recently told a brutal truth.

“We did it to ourselves,” he said. “We dug ourselves into a hole.”

But suddenly, over the course of just 12 days, Dallas has won back-to-back-to-back games, an accomplishment capped by Thanksgiving Thursday’s 31-28 upset of the visiting Kansas City Chiefs here at AT&T Stadium.

Dallas is now 6-5-1 but remains an NFC playoff long shot. So the “hole” still exists.

As Dak Prescott said after the win, “We’re not gonna just sit on some high because of (this win.) We know we’ve got a big one coming again next week (at Detroit), and all this really does for us is give us more confidence.”

Fine. But that “hole’’? Hey … at least now it’s more of a pockmark than a canyon.

How did the Cowboys get it done here in a must-win against QB Patrick Mahomes and the pedigreed Chiefs?

In these five ways …

FISH TAKE 1: DAK OVER PATRICK MAHOMES – Not by much, of course, as the Chiefs All-Pro QB was superb, with four TD passes, two in the final quarter. But Prescott’s support from his locker room is second to none, and his ability to motivate and guide the Cowboys to the three straight wins – at the Raiders, at home against the Super Bowl-champ Eagles, and here against the AFC-champ Chiefs – is eyebrow-raising.

Prescott came into Thanksgiving ranked in the NFL’s top three in completions, passing yards and TDs. And here, he completed 26-of-37 attempts for 320 passing yards, two touchdowns and a 114.5 QB rating. His fourth-quarter work in the red zone was especially clutch.

One of the reasons KC is a dynasty? Few other quarterbacks are able to outplay Texas native Mahomes. Prescott – with crisp decision-making, throwing and movement – did so here.

FISH TAKE 2: RISK-TAKING – I was told before the game that Dallas was prepared to roll the dice, to take risks, as an acknowledgment of KC’s talent and level of desperation. (Like the Cowboys, the Chiefs needed a win to keep realistic playoff hopes alive.)

The Cowboys did some of that, throwing when the Chiefs might’ve assumed they might run.

On the other sideline? Chiefs head coach Andy Reid arguably played it way to close to the vest, maybe forgetting that Dallas, with the NFL’s No. 1 offense, is entirely capable of winning a shootout.

Examples of Reid’s conservatism came twice in the third quarter alone.

On fourth-and-5 from the Cowboys’ 49-yard line in the third quarter, Reid took the ball out of Mahomes’ hand and punt it. Later in the third quarter, still trailing 17-14, the Chiefs had possession on the Cowboys’ 44-yard line with a fourth-and-4 attempt.

Reid punted again.

There are a lot of reasons the Chiefs just dropped to 6-6. But Reid playing it safe is a prominent one.

FISH TAKE 3: FEEDING CEEDEE – CeeDee Lamb struggled with drops last week in the win over the Eagles, and in the aftermath, all week at The Star, Dallas telegraphed its plan in this game.

Feed CeeDee.

Three times in the early going, Dallas faced a third-and-long. On all three occasions, Dak threw to Lamb, who converted every time.

Lamb played like the All-Pro he is and finished with 112 yards on seven catches.

And his BFF running mate George Pickens? He mirrored that with spectacular athleticism and six catches for 88 yards.

The Cowboys could’ve backed off of supporting Lamb and relied on one guy. But by featuring both “WR1s’’? They spend all afternoon putting Trent McDuffie and the KC secondary in spin cycle.

FISH TAKE 4: CONTROL THE CONTROLABLES The Cowboys were aware that in the Chiefs’ last two losses, Mahomes had been sacked three times, and in four of their five losses, he’d been sacked at least twice.

Bringing rushers was in Dallas’ control. The Cowboys did that, and here the elusive Mahomes was sacked three times (two by Jadeveon Clowney) and was victimized by nine quarterback hits.

The Cowboys were aware that the Chiefs had only given up over 74 yards on the ground once in the last month, so a commitment to the run game would be needed.

That commitment was in Dallas’ control, so the Cowboys finished with 137 yards rushing, as workhouse Javonte Williams picked up 59 of those with practice-squad signee Malik Davis contributing a 43-yard TD sprint.

The Cowboys figured third-down conversion would be key here. Coming in, Dallas’ offense was the sixth-best third-down team in football (42 percent conversion), and the Chiefs were 10th (42 percent).

But by playing largely error-free ball, the Cowboys out-gained Kansas City 457 yards to 362, but more importantly converted 56 percent of their third-down tries to the Chiefs’ 38 percent.

FISH TAKE 5: ABOUT THAT ‘ERROR-FREE THING … – “Play a perfect game’’ ?That’s a melodramatic desire. But while Dallas committed 50 yards worth of penalties, KC committed 119 yards worth. Prescott threw a pick but was never sacked. The Cowboys fumbled once, in the late-going, when Pickens coughed it up near the goal-line, but hustling teammate KaVontae Turpin out-ran the pack to recover it.

So, maybe Dallas was both good and lucky.

But in the end?

It was 12 days ago when the big computers said Dallas’ playoff chances sat at 5.4 percent. Then came the win over the Eagles and it vaulted to 11 percent. And now it’s supposedly at 23 percent, with a trip to Detroit up next.

So that “hole’’ exists. But now, if the Cowboys stand on their tip-toes, maybe they can at least see out of it.

“The way this team is playing,’’ Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after the game while holding a turkey leg, “we can think a lot more about (the playoffs). We’ve got a team that can sustain this … If we get a shot at it, we can prove we deserve to be there.’’