Overtime Kick Ends Cowboys’ Winning Streak : Pro football: Hanson’s 44-yard field goal with 27 seconds to play in extra period gives Lions a 20-17 victory.

Jason Hanson, who had two kicks blocked by Leon Lett late in the game, made a 44-yard field goal with 27 seconds to play in overtime Monday night to give the Detroit Lions a 20-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, ending the Cowboys’ 10-game winning streak.

“I thought I hit the game-winner well,” Hanson said. “I wanted a second chance after what had happened. I finally got lucky.”

It was the first loss for the Super Bowl champions since last Thanksgiving, when a blunder by Lett on a blocked field-goal attempt allowed the Miami Dolphins to win in the snow at Texas Stadium.

It was the second overtime field goal of the season for Hanson, who had a 37-yarder against the Atlanta Falcons in the Lions’ opener.

Detroit got the ball back with 1:55 to play in overtime when Pat Swilling sacked Troy Aikman and Broderick Thomas recovered a fumble--the second for Dallas in overtime.

After a 17-yard pass to Brett Perriman and three unsuccessful running plays, Hanson put the winner just inside the right goal post.

Barry Sanders rushed 40 times for 194 yards and Emmitt Smith carried 29 times for 143 yards in a matchup of two of the NFL’s most prolific backs. “Everybody has to have their bad days and this was one of our worst,” Smith said. “We executed very poorly. We should know better. We just didn’t have anything going.”

Said Sanders: “It’s a long season but this will be a game to remember.”

Sanders passed the 7,000-mark in career rushing yards in the second quarter. Smith passed the 6,000-yard mark later in the game.

Scott Mitchell connected on 13 of 27 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns, and Aikman completed 26 of 39 for 223 yards and one touchdown.

In the end, though, it came down to Detroit’s kicking game and Lett’s outstretched arms.

At the end of regulation, Hanson’s 57-yard attempt was blocked by Lett, and the lineman knocked down a 51-yard attempt 5 1/2 minutes into overtime.

But Lett was not in position to block the winner as the ball sailed over the other end of the Cowboys’ defensive line.

A tie game would have been the NFL’s first since 1989, when Cleveland and Kansas City finished 10-10.

Instead, the loss was Barry Switzer’s first as coach of the Cowboys and kept Lett from finally being a hero. The lineman is best known for fumbling away a sure touchdown in the 1993 Super Bowl and his gaffe against Miami last Thanksgiving when he touched a blocked kick instead of leaving it alone. Lett didn’t maintain control of the ball, Miami recovered and kicked a field goal to win.

The Cowboys trailed for most of the game, but they overcame a 10-point deficit and tied the score at 17-17 with 4:09 to play in regulation on Smith’s six-yard touchdown run to cap 59-yard drive. The drive started at the Dallas 41 after Hanson missed from 51 yards.

Mitchell burned the Cowboys with two clutch passes to Herman Moore that helped the Lions open a 17-7 lead midway through the third quarter. Mitchell hit Moore with a 25-yard pass on fourth and three from the Dallas 36, then connected with him on a nine-yard touchdown pass on third and nine.