The Cowboys haven't been to the playoffs in the last two seasons, and if they fail in 2026, they could do something not seen for over a decade.
The Dallas Cowboys, under Brian Schottenheimer, have all the tools needed to make it back to the playoffs in 2026, but whether they will remains a hot topic of debate.
It has been two years of no playoff football for Dallas, as back-to-back losing seasons have seen the Cowboys watch the tournament from the couch.
That isn't what owner Jerry Jones wants. He needs his team to be "the" talking point when the postseason begins, and this upcoming season, the Cowboys will, it is hoped, punch their ticket to the playoffs.
But while many think Schottenheimer will be able to get this team to the postseason, what if they don't? And it is here where Cowboys fans will be going back in time to the last time the franchise failed to make the playoffs in three straight years.
We have to go back to the 8-8 days of Jason Garrett from 2011 through to 2013 for the last time Dallas didn't have the playoffs in three consecutive years.
Given the talent on the offensive side of the ball and the expected defensive improvement, the Cowboys have to make the postseason, don't they?
While there was a four-year stretch that Dallas didn't make the playoffs under Garrett (came in for Wade Phillips, who was fired mid-season in 2010), the Cowboys can't allow the current streak to move to three.
They just can't, especially with the hope and optimism surrounding the organization this offseason, to then flame out and not make the playoffs; that would be the very definition of a nightmare.
And you could make the case that doing that would put the franchise in a situation where it makes you wonder how they will rediscover their shine, which has been taken off over the past couple of seasons.
So, there is a lot riding on the 2026 season for the Cowboys, as you can bet they don't want to make it three straight seasons of no playoffs and be talked about in the same breath as the 8-8 Garrett teams.
That is just nightmare fuel for a team with so much talent, especially on offense.
But that is what is on the horizon for Schottenheimer's Cowboys this upcoming season, don't be the first Dallas team in over a decade to miss out three years in a row.
