The bar used to be really high for the Dallas Cowboys. Before Jerry Wayne bought the Cowboys in 1989, the longest the team ever went between league or conference championship game appearances was six years. That six year drought came in the last six years of Tom Landry’s tenure, from 1983-88. And it was the main factor in the sale of the team.

Prior to that, the Cowboys made it to the championship game almost every year. A divisional playoff win was a gimmee.

It took them five years from that initial expansion season to playing Green Bay in the NFL Championship game. They went from absolutely nothing in 1960 — they missed the draft that first season! — to playing the Packers for the league title in 1966 and 1967. Until Jerry bought the team, that was the second longest championship game drought in team history, those first five years!

They experienced a two-year drought from 1968-70. A one-year drought in 1974, another one-year miss in 1976, and another divisional round loss in 1979. They appeared in the conference championship game four straight years from 1970-73 and five out of six seasons in 1977-1982. In total, in the 29-years before Jerry bought the team, the Cowboys appeared in twelve conference championship games, never going more than six years in between appearances. The Cowboys were not just relevant, they were at the top. They were a dynasty. They were in every conversation. For almost 30-years, the Cowboys dominated the NFL. The championship always went through Dallas. The legitimate expectations were Super Bowl or bust every single season. The bar was high.

Then they suffered that longest ever six-year drought. No divisional playoff wins in six years. And it caused a panic. Tom Landry didn’t know what he was doing. Gil Brandt couldn’t evaluate players. Tex Schramm couldn’t keep up with the times. The league had passed the Cowboys by. It was time for wholesale change. Little tweaks wouldn’t fix what was broken. Everything needed to be cleared out. The owner, the coach, the GM, the assistants, the trainers, the scouting department, even Tommy Loy the Texas Stadium trumpet player! Everybody had to go. The entire culture of the whole franchise had to be changed. The Cowboys hadn’t been to the conference championship game in six years! It was the worst playoff drought in franchise history!

And it worked. With Jimmy Johnson at the helm, they turned it around. With his players and the culture he created, Johnson’s Cowboys went to four straight conference championship games. They won three Super Bowls.

That was 23-years ago.

The Dallas Cowboys right now are mired in a playoff drought that is four times longer than any other drought in the team’s history. It has never been this bad, it’s never even been close to this bad before. But I don’t sense that anybody’s panicked. I don’t hear the outcry. Somehow, the Cowboys are still the most valuable sports franchise in the world, they sell more merchandise than any other team, and that oppressive stadium is still sold out every week. Just making it to the divisional round is lauded by the owner, the coach, and the players as a great success. The expectations have changed. The bar has been lowered. The Cowboys are the Browns and the Bengals.

Peace,

Allan

There are seven teams in the NFL that have gone more than two decades without winning a divisional playoff game. Twenty-four NFL franchises have played in a conference championship game in the past sixteen years, one win away from appearing in a Super Bowl; seven have not. These seven are in droughts that range from 23-years all the way to 30-years and counting. These seven are mired in more than two decades of mediocrity and irrelevance. These are the worst teams in the NFL.

They are incompetent in the front office. They have no real strategy or long-range plans. They act by whim and “gut.” They keep average-caliber players too long and sign over-hyped free agents too fast. They get out-picked in the draft and out-coached on the field. These seven teams are the only seven teams that haven’t won a divisional playoff game in more than two decades. They have not appeared in a conference championship game in more than 20-years. They don’t demonstrate that they have any idea how to get to a Super Bowl. These seven NFL teams are universally recognized as terrible messes. Laughingstocks. Pitiful. Sorry.

Cincinnati Bengals
Washington Redskins
Detroit Lions
Cleveland Browns
Miami Dolphins
Buffalo Bills
Dallas Cowboys

Three other teams are in 16-year droughts. You could add them to the list of sorry NFL franchises that have no clue how to win a championship — Tampa Bay, the Raiders, and the Titans — but does that make you feel any better? These are the sorry teams, the ones nobody takes seriously.

The Cowboys are not in the same class as the 49ers, Bears, Cardinals, or Eagles. They’re not in the same category as the Chargers, Ravens, or even the Jets! They’re with the Bengals, Browns, and Lions. They belong with the Redskins, Dolphins, and Bills.

Jerry Wayne has apparently written Jason Garrett into his family will; in a few days he’ll get a multi-year extension. Jerry will “Romo” Dak Prescott and start him at quarterback for eleven more years. The coaching staff is expected to remain fully intact; nobody’s getting fired or moved. They keep telling us it was a successful season. They keep telling us they see a lot of positives to build on. They keep telling us the team plays hard and never quits.

Well, if you’re in the same class as the Bengals and Browns, I guess that’s OK.

Peace,

Allan