The former Cowboys quarterback spoke about the team’s lack of playoff success in an interview with legendary Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen. Aikman, who won three Super Bowls in Dallas, particularly pointed out how it was hard to fathom that the Cowboys hadn’t made it back to the NFL’s championship game.
As Aikman tried to break down why the Cowboys have experienced postseason futility, Hansen chimed in and said the issues start with team owner/general manager Jerry Jones. Aikman didn’t necessarily disagree with Hansen’s evaluation.
“Well, I think that teams and organizations, whether it’s sports [or] business, I think it all does start at the top. Good or bad. I think it starts at the top,” Aikman said. “I don’t think Jerry would shy away from that. I think Jerry would certainly take responsibility. He’ll take accountability if and when they win, and I think then you have to take responsibility when it hasn’t worked out. And it hasn’t worked out.
“The interesting thing is, I’ve heard Jerry say that the reason he hasn’t hired a general manager is because there are no guarantees and no one can guarantee him that making a change at GM and replacing himself would guarantee that they would be any better. If that’s your philosophy, then you would never fire the head coach either. You would never make any changes because there are no guarantees whatsoever.”
While Aikman admitted that he isn’t in the Cowboys’ building to see how their process plays out, something in the way the team is currently set up isn’t working.
The last time the Cowboys made a Super Bowl appearance was on Jan. 28, 1996. Since winning Super Bowl XXX, the franchise has only picked up five postseason victories. All of those wins came in the wild card round of the playoffs.
“To me, you have to make changes in how you’re doing it if, for three decades, you’ve been unable to win back-to-back playoff games to get into a championship game. Then, when they’ve had the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye, they haven’t gotten out of the divisional round,” Aikman said.
The Cowboys are currently looking to regain postseason form. The team last made the playoffs during the 2023 season, seeing its campaign end with a 48-32 blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild card round.
Like many Cowboys followers, Aikman would like to see the franchise get back to the top of the mountain soon.
“When you look at the number of regular-season wins that they’ve had, they’re probably top five over the last two decades. Yet, it hasn’t translated into the postseason. Cowboys fans, they deserve better. I do know that,” Aikman said. “This is the Cowboys, the flagship franchise. The fact that the Cowboys, in 30 years, have not made it to a championship game, let alone a Super Bowl, it’s hard to fathom.”