Take a Bow, Jerry—the Dallas Cowboys Flamed Out Again

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants all the control over America’s Team—even when it means taking

credit for another dreadful playoff exit.

Following the most recent postseason loss of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones didn’t even bother to

resort to one of his customary word salads. His usual cryptic answers to questions from reporters were

no longer there. Sportswriters were left wondering if the owner of the Cowboys was going to fire the

team’s head coach or order a big pepperoni. This time, Jones’s unwavering optimism gave way to an

uncommon display of dejection following Sunday’s 48–32 home playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers.

“This one’s burned into our soul out here tonight,” he said. “I say this to our fans, how much you deserve

us to not have this ending. . . . This seems like the most painful [loss] because we all had such great

expectation and we had hope for this team.”

If you’re a Cowboys fan of a certain age, this is your normal—a meager five playoff victories, all in the

Wild Card round, in 28 seasons since winning Super Bowl XXX on January 28, 1996. All that past glory

—five Super Bowl trophies, twenty consecutive winning seasons, the Ring of Honor—are grainy images

and tattered ticket stubs from a distant past.

The Dallas Cowboys of 2024 are the most amazing sports team in North America in this sense. Even if

they lose badly in the playoffs, the team would still be worth $9 billion, according to the most recent

estimate from Forbes, making it the most valuable sports franchise in the world. In a sport that

commands television viewership unlike any other, the Cowboys lead in profitability—the one metric that

matters more than victories and defeats these days.