The one thing Dak gets criticized for most is his lack of playoff success, and he's not shying away from it.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has done nearly everything stats-wise in the regular season to be seen as a top-10-ish quarterback in football.
But the one thing that keeps Dak from going from good to really good/great is his playoff success.
At 2-5, Dak hasn't exactly been at his best when the lights are at their brightest, with his best outing being against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 31-14 win.
Other than that, Prescott has been largely underwhelming, throwing 14 TDs and seven interceptions, completing 64.5 percent of his passes.
That is his biggest bugaboo with fans and the media: when it comes to putting all the chips in the middle of the table, he doesn't always deliver.
The 2-5 playoff record isn't a good look. Neither is the fact that Dak hasn't been to the playoffs since 2023, and perhaps even worse, in four of the five times Prescott has made it to the postseason, he's been one-and-done.
So, the criticism is more than warranted, even Dak acknowledges that as he is mentioned in the same breath as Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow, who all are yet to win the big game.
"If you play this position, I've said it before, it's how you're judged is winning that last game," Prescott said. "Anything other than that, you're warranted to get [criticism] because you've not won that game. If you're not wired that way and if it's not what pushes you, you should probably find a different job and a different position. I think we all feel the same, and if I know those guys are like me, it's an obsession.
"So, yeah, it's about making sure that you give everything that you can to this team and give them the chance to do it."
So, Dak knows that how he performs in the playoffs and if he even gets to a Super Bowl is how he will ultimately be judged, and while Allen, Burrow, and Jackson are seen as the elites of the NFL, they too have all failed.
The hard part is that 31 quarterbacks will fail every year, and for Prescott, I doubt just getting to the big game is enough. Yes, it would end the drought, but he has to win that game, right?
There's no denying that Dak is a regular-season quarterback, despite his shortcomings against some of the league's elite, but it is what happens when the playoffs roll around that he will be judged.
He knows that, and all eyes will be on 2026 to see if Prescott can lead Dallas back to the postseason, and once there, who knows what could happen.
