Like each Cowboys fan, Troy Aikman didn’t assume that his third Super Bowl win with Dallas could be his final. But not solely was that the final title for Aikman’s Cowboys, but it surely additionally stays the final championship for one of the vital recognizable manufacturers in skilled sports activities.
The upcoming season represents the thirty first for the reason that Cowboys gained the Super Bowl, not to mention performed in a single. Dallas’ 31-year drought and not using a convention title look is the longest within the NFC. For Aikman, a Hall of Fame quarterback and the MVP of Super Bowl XXVII, the truth that the Cowboys have not had extra postseason success over the previous 30 years is meaningless.
“It’s hard to fathom,” Aikman said on the “Dallas Dialogue with Dale” podcast earlier this month. “I mean, it really is. We talk every year about parity and how we’ve seen teams that have gone from last to first and teams that have not been historically very good, and yet they still make a run. They’ll make it to a championship game, or they’ll make it to a Super Bowl. And yet for the Cowboys, that hasn’t happened.”
What makes the Cowboys’ drought extra perplexing, Aikman mentioned, is that his former workforce has had appreciable success within the common season over the previous 30 years, however that success hasn’t translated right into a deep playoff run.
Aikman is not precisely positive why the Cowboys have not had extra playoff success. He does know, nonetheless, that it is time that the franchise’s passionate fanbase is rewarded for its loyalty.
“The Cowboys fans, they deserve better,” Aikman mentioned. “I do know that. I mean, this is the Cowboys, the flagship franchise, and the fact that the Cowboys in 30 years has not made it to a championship game, let alone a Super Bowl. I mean, it’s hard to fathom.”
Every Cowboys fan is aware of when the franchise took a flip for the worst. It was shortly after Dallas gained its second of back-to-back championships when Jimmy Johnson and Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones mutually agreed to half methods. Johnson’s departure was fueled not less than partly by Jones telling several reporters that “500 coaches could win Super Bowls with this team.”
The Cowboys gained a file third Super Bowl in 4 years, a 12 months after Johnson’s departure, but it surely was clear that there have been cracks in Dallas’ championship armor. Although they gained all of it in 1995, the Cowboys weren’t nearly as good that 12 months as they have been in 1994, and so they weren’t nearly as good in ’94 as they have been in 1993, Johnson’s final season in Dallas.
In addition to Johnson’s departure, many have pointed to Dallas’ drought being a byproduct of Jones’ continued insistence on serving because the workforce’s president and common supervisor along with being the proprietor. While Jones deserves credit score for the success the Cowboys have had underneath his watch, it goes with out saying that he has additionally performed a substantial position within the workforce’s ongoing championship drought.
“I think that teams and organizations, whether it’s sports, business, I think it all does start at the top, good or bad,” Aikman mentioned. “I think it starts at the top. I don’t think Jerry would shy away from that. I think Jerry would certainly take responsibility. He’ll take accountability if and when they win, and I think then you have to take responsibility when it hasn’t worked out. And it hasn’t worked out.”
In defending his choice to function president and common supervisor, Jones has mentioned that there are not any ensures {that a} new common supervisor would result in extra success. And whereas Jones is technically proper, Aikman does not really feel that that could be a authentic cause to face pat.
“If that’s your philosophy, then you would never fire the head coach either,” Aikman mentioned. “You would never make any changes because there are no guarantees whatsoever. But you know, they’ve been going down this road for so long, and yet it hasn’t translated into success in January, and there has to be a reason for that.
“You know, I’m not within the constructing. Everyone then has their opinion as to what it could be, but it surely simply does not add up. I imply, to me, you need to make modifications in the way you’re doing it. If for 3 many years, you’ve got been unable to win back-to-back playoff video games to get right into a championship recreation, after which once they’ve had the primary seed and a first-round bye, they have not gotten out of the divisional spherical. … There’s been 4 playoff wins in 30 years, in order that’s it is simply unacceptable.”