Do Cowboys Fans Really Want A Bad Dallas Team To Win The NFC East?

There's no other way to put it: The Dallas Cowboys have been way more "bad'' and "ugly'' than "good'' over the course of a disappointing start to this NFL season, as they now sit at 2-4 under coach Brian Schottenheimer.

More "bad'' and "ugly''? Dating back 11 games under this coach, Dallas is 3-8.

Usually, those kinds of numbers and that sort of record would place a team in the basement of a division.

But right now, the NFC East is the "NFC Least'' with the New York Giants (3-2-1), the Philadelphia Eagles (2-4), and the Washington Commanders (1-4-1), all struggling at least as much as Dallas.

In fact, the entire division combined hasn't won in two weeks ... a stat so rare that it makes the 2026 NFC East, in a sense, the crummiest division in NFL history.

Add it up, and if Cowboys Nation is searching for a slice of hope? Yes, all of this is the "good'' for the Cowboys, because they haven't been punished for their woeful displays yet.

Oh, they've dug themselves a "hole,'' as Schottenheimer phrased it. Yet, as bad as things are, the Cowboys can still win the division and earn a playoff berth.

Do they "deserve'' it? That's not really how this works.

Do you want a "bad'' team to make the playoffs? I'll argue that you do indeed want to get a seat in The Tournament, where anything can (in theory) happen.

Oh, and by the way, most oddsmakers now favor Dallas to win this division. One model gives the Cowboys a 67-percent chance of being crowned champion ... whether they go in rear-end-first or otherwise.

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So, in the Dallas locker room at The Star? Yes, there is some optimistic "scoreboard-watching'' going on.

"When we lost and saw everybody else lose, it's just that everything is in front of us," defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. "We still got to be urgent, not expect that to happen every week.

"We got to get our stuff together on the road, but it all starts with a division win against the Eagles."

Weird as it might feel to a disappointed Dallas fan, Clark is right: Everything is still in front of the Cowboys. But that only works f they can string together wins, something that has been notoriously difficult during the Schottenheimer era.

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"It's wide open," receiver Ryan Flournoy said of the division race. "I think we're a win away for being on top. So that in a sense that gives us hope. But it's a long season. It's a week-to-week league. So you got to be on that 'A-game' every week."

Do the Cowboys even have an "A-game''?

Back-to-back losses to the Bays (Tampa and Green) say "no.'' But on Monday night, Dallas plays against an injury-riddled Eagles team with no Jalen Hurts and maybe no Saquon Barkley - and the Cowboys are favored to win that road game.

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but inliuding Philly, Dallas' next three games are against teams (Eagles, Cardinals and Colts) with a combined record of 6-12.

So the scoreboard-watching Cowboys, when it comes to winning a historically bad division, really do have playoff hopes.

Whether you as a Cowboys fan want it/like it or not.