Dallas Cowboys: Does just getting to playoffs constitute a successful season?

The Dallas Cowboys should have expectations headed into the season. ESPN’s Todd Archer thinks those expectations may be a bit lofty.

The Dallas Cowboys are coming off a disappointing season in which their defense, especially the linebacker group, took a major step backward based on the season prior. The offense was ranked among the best, however, you have to look at that sideways based on the fact that they were forced to play from behind a ton.

Needing to do more passing for chunks and chain movement than anything else, also apparent in Ezekiel Elliott’s relative downtick in usage as a runner, the Cowboys could very well be guilty of putting up chunky numbers only because keeping them contained didn’t matter to the defense as much as not allowing them to score.

They were comfortable bending, as long as they didn’t break. Perhaps. Either way though, this year should be different.

It is these thoughts that lead to this question though, what constitutes a “successful season” this year for the Cowboys? While we will get to my opinion on that a bit later, ESPN’s Todd Archer has a very interesting set of thoughts on the topic. He believes that to simply make the playoffs is a success but it goes deeper than that, check it out.

"“Simple — get to the playoffs. There have been previous Cowboys’ seasons that have had ‘Super Bowl or bust’ feelings to them, but considering coach Mike McCarthy did not have a traditional offseason to fully implement his program, the expectations should be dialed back … While some might have Super Bowl thoughts, just getting to the tournament is a more proper expectation.”"

First off and to address something from earlier, you can’t exactly say what a successful season is now, based on how good the rest of the league will be or looks, but with the talent that the Cowboys have, it has to be better than just making the playoffs. While it might not be to win it all, it would at minimally have to be to win one postseason game, right?

Secondly, those would be the reasons why they have to win at least a game, the reasons he listed in his argument for less (I encourage you to read his entire explanation at ESPN.com). This Cowboys team has so much talent on both sides of the ball, albeit whether they performed up to it last year or not, that they have to be held to higher expectations.

Archer also mentions that the Cowboys missed the postseason in 2019 despite possessing similar issues on defense and a stacked offense, which still resulted in McCarthy being welcomed to Dallas in January. Here’s the thing.

Mike McCarthy wasn’t brought in to lead the Dallas Cowboys as a result of the offense and defense failing to be better for Jason Garrett. McCarthy was brought in as a result of Garrett failing to be better for the offense and the defense. That is why, for me, just getting to playoffs does not constitute a successful season for the Cowboys this year.