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With the blink of an eye, thirty years can go by. That’s exactly what’s happened to the Dallas Cowboys franchise since capturing its fifth world championship on Jan. 26, 1996. Some 10,950 days have come and gone.
One could argue that the most talented assembled group came back in 2007. That squad featured 13 Pro Bowlers but squandered home field advantage in January of 2008, losing to Eli Manning and company at Texas Stadium.
The closest the Cowboys have come to even reaching a conference title matchup was in 2022, when they filtered through the postseason before ultimately falling short in a 23-17 loss to the 49ers during a divisional-round flameout.
Tony Romo and Dak Prescott have been the primary poster children during the unprecedented championship drought. In combination, they went under center 295 times, and the meter is still running on Prescott.
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Head coach Barry Switzer recalled that Super Sunday in Tempe, AZ, when Jerry Jones and the Cowboys last hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.
“I was confident that we would win if we played well and didn’t make mistakes. You’ll remember that we had played them twice previously and had won both of those games. As it turned out, we did make a few mistakes that night but overcame them to bring Dallas their third Super Bowl in a four-year span.”
Daryl Johnston told Sporting News the road to that title was anything but smooth.
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“We had not played well during the month of December. We were and 1 and 2 that month but then managed to beat Arizona in the final game of the regular season. As we traveled to that game with the Cardinals, we found out that the Falcons had beaten the Niners and if we won, we would have home field advantage in the NFC. Needless to say, we played well that night and then got on a roll in the playoffs. We did play well in the first half against Pittsburgh, but Larry Brown saved the day with two big interceptions to give the offense the chance to put the game away. We had executed the plan we talked about on Christmas Day a little over a month earlier in the same stadium.”
Ironically, the first of the Cowboys’ five championships came in Super Bowl VI against the Miami Dolphins. That game carries significance today, as Miami finds itself in a similar position, having last won a playoff game in December of 2000.
The irony deepens with the Dolphins now turning to Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman in hopes of righting the ship, while Dallas continues to chase echoes of a past when championships came easy.
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