<
        >

          NFL Nation

          Super Bowl LII outcome won't be good for Cowboys, but which result would be worse?

          • Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterJan 29, 2018, 01:00 PM
            Close
              Todd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010. You can follow him on Twitter at @toddarcher.
            Follow on X

          FRISCO, Texas -- This will not be a good week for the Dallas Cowboys.

          Whatever happens Sunday in Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles won't be good for America's Team.

          If the Patriots win, then New England will have its sixth Super Bowl, one more than the Cowboys. It would tie them with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most in history.

          If the Eagles win, then the Cowboys' NFC East rivals will have the Vince Lombardi trophy for the first time in their history and Dallas would lose one of its "yeah, but" arguments on Philadelphia. No matter what the Eagles have been able to do to the Cowboys, a Dallas fan could always respond with, "Yeah, but you don't have a Super Bowl."

          So which result would be worse?

          History is all the Cowboys are about these days.

          They most recently won a Super Bowl 22 years ago Sunday, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX. The Cowboys became the first team to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span. They became the Team of the '90s. The Triplets -- Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith -- forever had their space in NFL history.

          The Cowboys have not appeared in a Super Bowl since. Heck, they haven't appeared in an NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season, either. Only the Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins have longer droughts.

          The Cowboys have won just three playoff games since Larry Brown intercepted Neil O'Donnell twice to win the most valuable player award in Super Bowl XXX.

          The Cowboys remain America's Team only because of their history.

          The Patriots became the second team to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span when they won titles in 2001, '03 and '04. A win Sunday will be the second time they have won three in four years, having beaten the Seattle Seahawks in 2014 and the Atlanta Falcons in 2016.

          The Patriots are two seasons away from tying the Cowboys' most remarkable record: 20 straight winning seasons. They accomplished that feat from 1966 to 1985. The Patriots have not had a losing record since 2000, Bill Belichick's first season as head coach.

          Is there a doubt the Patriots will at least match the Cowboys' mark as long as Belichick and Tom Brady are together? Even with Brady suffering a season-ending injury in the 2008 opener, New England finished 11-5 that season with Matt Cassel as quarterback. Cassel posted a 1-6 record for the Cowboys in 2015.

          The reported friction in the relationship between Brady and Belichick hasn't seemed to affect New England in the playoff chase, but maybe their departures, one way or the other, could hasten the Patriots' fall.

          After the Cowboys beat the Steelers in 1995, there did not seem to be an end in sight for the Cowboys' dynasty, but they never came close to sniffing another Super Bowl in the Triplets era.

          Irvin is on record with his Super Bowl hope.

          He is holding on to history and would rather his franchise be looking up at only one team in the Super Bowl standings, not two.

          Perhaps in college football there is some sort of conference pride that can have one rival root for another in a national championship game or major bowl contest. How many times do we hear, "SEC, SEC, SEC" in December and January?

          But this isn't college football, and there won't be any Cowboys fans chanting, "NFC East, NFC East, NFC East" should Philadelphia win Sunday.

          The Cowboys are the last team to beat the Eagles. What? You've already forgotten that 6-0 shutout in Week 17 in which the Eagles did not play a number of regulars, especially on defense, and took out Nick Foles after a horrendous 39-yard, one-interception effort in the first quarter?

          If the Eagles win Super Bowl LII, the Cowboys can always say they beat the NFL champion. That's not exactly banner-worthy, is it?

          There are only so many things the Cowboys can hang on to these days.

          Which would you rather avoid: New England winning its sixth Super Bowl or Philadelphia winning its first?