FRISCO — Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said the quiet part out loud, that reaching the postseason in 2025 would make for a successful season.
Schottenheimer hasn’t publicly stated what success is other than wanting this franchise to win a Super Bowl. With the Cowboys needing to win their remaining four games of the 2025 season and hope for the Eagles, a team they trail by 1 1/2 games in the NFC East standings, to falter, achieving that looks difficult.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said before Wednesday’s practice. “But I don’t think that’s the only thing we’re judged upon. But that’s what we want. You can’t sit up here and talk about winning world championships, and if you don’t make the playoffs, you don’t have a chance to win a world championship. Winning is the No. 1 objective. After that, it’s building the culture.”
After a 3-5-1 start, the Cowboys made a trade deadline deal for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and linebacker Logan Wilson. The team ran off a season-high three-game win streak before losing last week at Detroit, putting their playoff hopes in jeopardy.
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Schottenheimer said finishing the final four games of the season strong, with consecutive road games at Washington and the New York Giants to close the year, is vital.
“I think it’s always important. I always talk about, you can’t win the game in the first quarter, second, third and fourth,” he said. “We talked a little bit about this. We talked about heading into this fourth quarter, and let’s finish up this season that way. I think we were 1-2-1 in the first quarter, we were 2-3 in the second and now in the third quarter, we’re 3-1. What’s that mean? It means we’re playing better. It means we’re playing more consistent. It means we’re doing things at a higher level, higher standard. Minnesota’s our focus. Minnesota’s my focus. At the end of the day, we’re going to be judged on wins and losses. So let’s start by getting the first one of the fourth quarter against Minnesota.”
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