As the inevitable outcome becomes abundantly clear, tempers begin to flare in the stands as intoxicated fans fight with one another. A few hours later, many of those same fans set their NFL Shop jerseys ablaze on backyard grills and film it on social media to share the misery with others. It all is then capped the next day as the distraught and hungover fans jam the phone lines on local sports talk radio, while former star players express their frustration on TV shows.
This has become a tradition like none other for Dallas Cowboys faithful.
For the 28th consecutive year, a season filled with publicized Super Bowl promise ended with “America’s Team” failing to make it not only to the Super Bowl but even an NFC Championship Game.
This year was supposed to be a breakthrough.
The Cowboys led the NFL in points scored, first downs, and passing touchdowns, as Dak Prescott had the best statistical season of his career throwing for 36 passing touchdowns. Micah Parsons had a career-high 14 sacks, cornerback DaRon Bland led the NFL with nine interceptions and a record five pick-sixes, while wide receiver CeeDee Lamb set Cowboy records with 135 receptions and 1,749 yards.
Dallas had nine players earn either first or second-team All-Pro honors and were the only team in the NFL to go undefeated at home. The Cowboys earned the No. 2 seed and looked primed to at least make the NFC Championship Game.
Yet, the No. 7 seeded Green Bay Packers came into AT&T Stadium and became the youngest team ever to win a playoff game as they handed Dallas a 48-32 loss — a contest that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
It is yet another monumental disappointing ending for the NFL’s most famous, or infamous, franchise.
With the defeat, Dallas became the first team since the AFC & NFC merger in 1970 to win 12 games in three straight seasons and fail to make a conference championship game.
It is also the team’s 13th straight trip to the playoffs without advancing to the conference title game which is the longest in NFL history, and it is the eighth time the team has gone one and done in the postseason since 1996.
The Houston Texans, meanwhile, have five playoff wins in the last 27 seasons, while Dallas has only four. The Texans also have only existed for 22 of those seasons.
There have been many questions asked as to who is to blame for another Texas-sized disappointment.
Was it head coach Mike McCarthy’s fault for not having his team prepared to play, or maybe Prescott doesn’t have what it takes to shine on the biggest stage? Or maybe defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s vaunted defense got torched due to him being distracted by a slew of head coaching interviews?
Those all play a role but the reason the Cowboys have been in playoff purgatory for three decades is one reason — Jerry Jones.
The NFL’s biggest egomaniacal owner has spent three decades trying to prove to everyone that he was the architect of his franchise’s former dynasty, and in doing so he has hindered the Dallas Cowboys from even sniffing a Lombardi Trophy.
As the decades have gone by, it is obvious that former head coach Jimmy Johnson — who was just a few weeks ago put into the Cowboys Ring of Honor — was the driving force of the Cowboys dynasty of the early 1990s. It was Johnson who made “How about them Cowboys?” part of the national lexicon.
Johnson is the one who orchestrated the famed Herschel Walker trade that propelled them into the stratosphere. It laid the foundation for back-to-back Lombardi trophies and made the franchise once again the most loved and hated team.
Jones, though, couldn’t handle the adulation bestowed on his coach and blasted him — claiming that any one of 500 coaches could succeed with the Cowboys — in a legendary intoxicated exchange with reporters at the NFL Owners Meeting. Johnson resigned and the franchise never recovered.
Yes, Jones hired his old friend — Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer — to take over a roster filled with the players that Johnson had drafted, coached, and developed — and he won another Super Bowl in 1995. Two years later, the Cowboys won only six games, Switzer was dismissed and the dynasty was cooked.
It’s not as if the Cowboys haven’t had some of the most talented players in the last three decades.
Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and Pro Football Hall of Famers DeMarcus Ware and Terrell Owens all wore the famed star on their helmets.
Yet no Super Bowl championships, no Super Bowl appearances, and not even a single conference title game appearance.
In the 26 seasons since Switzer was dismissed, Dallas has gone through six head coaches but that is slightly misleading as Jason Garrett coached for nine seasons. No other coach has lasted more than four years, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Parcells.
That has been part of the issue, as Jones is not going to allow someone with a strong personality coach his team as that would take the shine off of him. Except for Parcells, the majority of the coaches — and front office personnel including his son Stephen — have been Jerry’s “yes men” which has allowed Jerry to be the face of the franchise.
That is what is most important to Jones — that he is the star of the franchise even with a plethora of legal issues, including a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and another dispute over him fathering a child.
Jones may claim winning Super Bowls is what drives him but having his team be the most valuable sports franchise in North America — worth $8.12 billion — and being the face of said franchise is what is important.
The Dallas Cowboys are trending to become the Raiders, minus some of the legendary silver and black dysfunction. And yes, Jones has become the late Al Davis.
In the two-plus decades after two-time Super Bowl champion coach Tom Flores retired, Davis went through 11 head coaches in 24 years, including hiring and firing Art Shell twice. The insane thing is the Raiders still managed to reach three conference title games, and one Super Bowl in that stretch.
In the nine seasons after that drubbing at the hands of the Buccaneers, the Raiders under Davis never made the playoffs or posted a winning record. The once brilliant and bold Davis, and the fearsome Raiders, became the league’s laughing stock known more for draft pick busts and firing coaches with an overhead projector.
Even though the Cowboys are not the dumpster fire that the Raiders became under Davis, they will never be the franchise they once were in the 1990s. That’s not because of players, coaches, or stadium facilities, it is because the team’s biggest cheerleader won’t allow it to happen.
Raymond Partsch III is the co-host of “RP3, D-Loh & Meche” which is broadcast weekdays (11-1) on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.