Cowboys' bring a poor Week 17 record to today's game

The NFL didn’t begin regularly scheduling Week 17 games until the 1990 season.

However, the 1982 schedule did have a 17^th week added due to the strike. Even though the teams only played nine games that season.

Needless to say, the 34 total Week 17 games the Cowboys have played have not been so kind to Dallas, especially lately.

The Cowboys come into today’s game against the Lions with a 13-21 overall record in Week 17 contests.

They are 7-5 at home and a dismal 6-16 on the road. At least today’s game is a home game.

Dallas won last year’s Week 17 game at Tennessee but lost at home to Arizona in 2021.

A Record-Setting Debut

That first Week 17 game in 1982 was at Minnesota and ended in a 31-27 Vikings’ win.

Dallas would go on to the NFC Championship game that year despite the season-ending loss.

But that last game set the stage for a record that will never be broken. Tony Dorsett dashed for 99 yards and a touchdown in that game.

And he did it with just 10 Cowboys on offense after Ron Springs inexplicably ran off the field.

Dallas made it two Week 17 losses in a row in 1990 with a 26-7 loss at Atlanta. But then won their next three Week 17 games.

By the end of the 20^th Century the Cowboys were 6-5 in Week 17 games after back-to-back home wins over the Redskins and Giants in 1998-99.

The new century brought a nine-game losing streak in Week 17 contests. Eight of those games were on the road.

The lone exception was a 39-31 loss in 2006 to the then 2-13 Lions at Texas Stadium.

Future Cowboys Jon Kitna and Roy Williams teamed up for two touchdowns in Detroit’s shocking upset win.

The Cowboys avoided getting shut out in the first decade of the century with a 24-0 rout over the Eagles at AT&T Stadium.

Dallas split the next decade evenly at 5-5 despite losing all four Week 17 games from 2010-2013. Since that 2013 loss to the Eagles they are 5-4.

Dallas is 0-2 against the Lions in Week 17 battles, losing at Detroit in 2001 before the 2006 home loss.

The Cowboys are 18-12 overall against the Lions. Their first meeting in 1960 resulted in a 23-14 Lions’s win.

Dallas is 16-11 in regular season games, 10-3 at home but just 6-8 in games played in Detroit.

The two teams have met three times in the playoffs with Dallas holding a 2-1 edge. The Lions won 38-6 in 1992 at Detroit.

Dallas won 24-20 in their last playoff meeting in 2015 at AT&T Stadium.

The Cowboys first playoff win over Detroit was at the Cotton Bowl in 1970. The 5-0 win is one of only three NFL games to ever end in that score.

The Cowboys have won the last three meeting with the Lions at home – four if you include the 2015 playoff victory.

The last Detroit win at Dallas was a 34-30 win in 2011. Dallas won the last meeting between the teams in Detroit, a 35-27 win in 2019.

Including the playoff games, the Cowboys were 3-0 against the Lions at the Cotton Bowl and 4-2 at Texas Stadium.

They are 5-1 against Detroit at AT&T Stadium.