Every year NFL fans look forward to the playoffs, it’s the most exciting time of year of the year for football fans as the best teams battle it out to lift the Lombardi Trophy. But for one particularly vocal fanbase, the playoffs have not been a pleasant time in recent years. Of course I’m talking about “America’s Team” , the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys have been in the playoffs a lot and always seem like they’re about to break through, but every year they come short. This year it was in extra embarrassing fashion as they got dominated by the 7th seed Green Bay Packers who were not even expected to be in the playoffs. Jordan Love absolutely picked apart the supposedly dominant Dallas defense and the also supposedly Dallas offense stalled out until it was way too late. So why does this keep happening to Dallas? They always look amazing in the regular season but they without fail crumble in the playoffs every year. There are two main people that fans like to blame, Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott. Mike McCarthy is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and was notably the coach of the Packers for a while when Aaron Rodgers was there. He’s won a Super Bowl but he is seen as more of a questionable coach. Even with one of the greatest to ever do it under center and having elite talent on both ends for years in Green Bay McCarthy only managed to get one ring while having countless opportunities to get more. 2014 when the Packers blew a 16 point lead against the Seahawks in the NFC championship game and 2016 when the Packers got annihilated by the Falcons were two prime chances. And since he joined Dallas he has not fared much better.

Back to back embarrassing losses to the Niners in 2021 and 2022 had people calling for his job. But Jerry Jones wanted to keep him for some reason and this year he lost in embarrassing fashion again to the Packers. The Packers all year were a fringe playoff team with flashes of potential, Jordan Love looked like a developing QB that needed a few more seasons, but the Cowboys made Love look like prime Tom Brady as he just effortlessly picked apart the Cowboys’ defense. This obviously is partially on the coaching staff for failing to prepare for the Packers, and Mccarthy has a disturbing track record for failing to prepare for playoff opponents. If it were up to me I’d fire Mccarthy but for some reason Jerry Jones wants to keep him.

Now that brings us to the next popular scapegoat Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott is a very polarizing player, some people say he’s one of the best QBs in the league and is just unlucky while other people think he’s a chronic choker in the playoffs. I think he’s both. This year Dak was another level for most of the regular season, slinging the ball to Ceedee Lamb who also emerged as a top 5 receiver this year. He cut down on his mistakes tremendously and was honestly a front runner for MVP for a good portion of the season. But time and time again Dak has had quite underwhelming playoff performances. And this year was no exception. He threw two first half interceptions which dug a hole too deep for the Cowboys to climb out of. So yes Dak has had very underwhelming performances, but I don’t think the Cowboys should move on from him. There are very few QBs that are better than Dak Prescott in this league and honestly I think it’s more the Dallas coaching that has been the biggest issue. Until they make a coaching overhaul I doubt Dallas will ever make it far. So for the rest of the NFL fan base we can still look forward to laughing at Cowboys fans every year.