How the Dallas Cowboys playoff failure shocked Troy Aikman, ruined his vacations plans

Three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Troy Aikman was celebrating Dallas’ designation as the

best city for sports business on Tuesday at the George Bush Library, and he wasn’t blind to the irony of

the conversation or the occasion. Aikman talked extensively about how North Texas has hosted Final

Fours, Super Bowls, and the future World Cup with great success. Even while Aikman praised Cowboys

owner Jerry Jones for his vision in constructing AT&T Stadium in Arlington, he also acknowledged that

“everything Jerry talked about and what an asset that stadium would be, really has come to fruition”.

Everything has paid off, and we’re excited for the next Super Bowl, preferably with the Cowboys playing.

Aikman knew then that he had set himself up for dreaded transition to discussion of the Cowboys’

season-ending playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers and the now 29-year gap since the last Super Bowl

title (following the 1995 season). Aikman said he was shocked as anyone that the Cowboys ended a 12-5

season with an embarrassing loss to the Packers at home in AT&T Stadium. As a football analyst,

Aikman’s season ended last weekend and had planned to be in San Francisco to watch the Cowboys face

the 49ers in this weekend’s NFC title game.

But that was before the Cowboys lost to the seventh-seeded Packers in the wild-card round. The 49ers

beat the Packers and will now face the Detroit Lions for the right to go to the Super Bowl. “Shocked,

yeah,” Aikman said. “I really anticipated Dallas would be playing in the championship game and figured

that it would be in San Francisco, so I was planning on going to the game. Didn’t book a vacation after

my season. And so I really liked this team all year long. I thought they were really talented. It’s just the

same old story, and I don’t mean that as a criticism. “It’s just when I’m asked about the Cowboys as to

why they have struggled: They’ve put together some really great regular seasons, and they just have not,

for whatever reasons, played their best football when the games matter most. That’s what you have to do.

And that’s the key to winning in the postseason and then getting to the Super Bowl. So what the answer

to that is I’m not sure.”

The Cowboys have won just five playoff games since Aikman led the franchise after three Super Bowl

titles in the 1990s. And they are 2-5 in the playoffs with quarterback Dak Prescott at the helm over the

last eight seasons, including two one-and-done postseason journeys at AT&T Stadium as the higher seed

in the past three seasons. Aikman still supports Prescott but acknowledges the natural concerns about

him and the Cowboys because of their lack of playoff success.

Prescott had an MVP-caliber season in 2023 with a league-high 36 touchdowns but played one of his

worst games against the Packers, keyed by two first-half interception as the the Cowboys fell behind 27-

0. “I do know that we all draw on our past experiences, and when we don’t have great experiences, those

then become hard to overcome,” Aikman said. “And I think that’s the challenge for Dak. The question for

him and the team isn’t so much what happens in the regular season now. It’s how are they going to play

and how is he going to play once you get into the postseason? That makes for a long year when that’s the

way it works. “But I still believe in Dak. Until you do it, there’s always those criticisms.” Aikman said he

is not surprised that Jones stayed the course with coach Mike McCarthy after contemplating making a

coaching change in the aftermath of the disappointing loss. But Aikman said there will be no do-overs

next season if McCarthy and the Cowboys don’t win. He is in the last year of his contract and will not get

an extension before the 2024 season.

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