Why the Dallas Cowboys are watching and not playing today
By Tyrone Starr
As the world prepares to see which NFC team makes it to Super Bowl LII, let’s take a look at how bad this is for the Dallas Cowboys and how it can be fixed.
In the opening game of Championship Weekend, the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints will play for the right to go to the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys will not.
Today marks the 23rd straight year that the final NFC matchup of the year will not include the Dallas Cowboys.
We all know that this stretch is an albatross around the franchise’s neck. I mean, that’s an awfully long time to play musical chairs and not end up with one of the final two seats.
This dubious streak in more than double their previous time between appearances (1982-92). That alone speaks to the history of this franchise but just how bad is the current status quo?
Here is a breakdown of how every NFC team has fared since the start of the 1996 season.
NFC SINCE COWBOYS LAST PLAYED IN NFC TITLE GAME (1996-2018)
REGULAR SEASON PLAYOFFS SUPER BOWL
TEAM W L T VISITS WINS TITLE W L
Green Bay 234 132 2 17 17 6 2 1
Philadelphia 210 156 2 14 14 6 1 1
Seattle 203 164 1 12 13 3 1 2
Minnesota 198 168 2 10 7 3 0 0
Dallas 194 174 0 10 4 0 0 0
New Orleans 188 180 0 8 9 3 1 0
Carolina 187 180 1 9 9 4 0 2
N.Y. Giants 184 183 1 9 10 3 2 1
San Francisco 184 183 1 9 9 4 0 1
Atlanta 184 183 1 9 8 4 0 2
Chicago 179 189 0 5 3 2 0 1
Los Angeles 163 204 1 6 7 3 1 1
Tampa Bay 161 207 0 6 5 2 1 0
Washington 161 205 2 5 2 0 0 0
Arizona 159 208 1 5 6 2 0 1
Detroit 135 233 0 4 0 0 0 0
As you can see, the Dallas Cowboys have been pretty successful in the regular season. Their record of 194-174 is fifth best over the past 23 years.
The biggest issue, however, is their playoff success.
Only Chicago (3), Washington (2) and Detroit (none) have fewer playoff wins. Even with that, Chicago has still been to a Super Bowl in this time frame.
Dallas, Washington and Detroit have not even had a chance to play for that right.
So what’s keeping the Cowboys, a perennially good team by all accounts, from taking that next step?
Coaching.
The Dallas Cowboys have had some really good players during this time. Six Hall of Fame inductees played the majority of their careers for Dallas during this time.
Tight End Jason Witten played all of 239 games as a Cowboys from 2003-2017. Guard Larry Allen played 144 games for Dallas between 1996-2005. Emmitt Smith started 109 games at running back from 1996-2002. Troy Aikman started 67 games at quarterback.
Only receivers Terrell Owens and Michael Irvin played more games either elsewhere or earlier than the 47 games they each played for the Cowboys during this time.
There have been countless other very good players to come through Valley Ranch or The Star as well.
Safety Darren Woodson, quarterback Tony Romo, running back Ezekiel Elliott and receiver Dez Bryant are just some of the amazing talents to never play for the NFC title.
Talent has never been the problem here. It’s the men in charge of leading this talent and positioning these players for ultimate success.
Since the 1996 season, the Cowboys have had six coaches.
Barry Switzer went 16-16 in the regular season and 1-1 in the playoffs before he was fired. Chan Gailey lost back-to-back Wild Card games in his two years before he was unceremoniously replaced by Dave Campo. Those three years became an absolute dumpster fire as Campo won just 15 games in three years and never led them to the playoffs.
Bill Parcells lost both of his Wild Card games here as well in four years at the helm before retiring. Wade Phillips won 33 games in three years, but went just 1-2 in the playoffs.
The final eight and half years have been guided by Jason Garrett.
Garrett is somewhat of a lightning rod for criticism. Fans will point to his robotic press conferences and lack of playoff success and call for his head.
That is, until the Cowboys win 13 games like they did in 2016 or 12 games two years prior or he makes a big time run like the one he did this year to save himself once more.
The question really becomes whether or not this franchise can only so far under his stewardship. There is no question, for whatever reason, his players for the most part enjoy playing for him.
Aside from Owens, who got along with almost no one during his career and a few other nobodies, you’ll be hard-pressed to hear anything negative from former players who move on to other teams.
His 2-3 playoff mark is also somewhat difficult to grade. On one hand, losing to Aaron Rodgers twice is not exactly Scarlett Letter wearing worthy. On the other, it is the playoffs and you are always going to be playing the best of the best.
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Ultimately, I believe the fair criticism is that Garrett is certainly good enough to get you to the dance, but he’s not good enough to win any dance competition.
As long as he is patrolling the sidelines, the Cowboys will be a contender. They will, however, continue to watch this weekend just like the rest of us.