The Dallas Cowboys come into today’s Wild Card round playoff game with an 8-6 record in the first round all-time.
A Wild Card team was added to the playoffs in 1970, after the two leagues merged in 1970.
But the additional team simply played in the Divisional round with the three division champions. A Wild Card round wasn’t added until 1978 when a second wild card team was added.
Dallas’ first year as a wild card entrant into the playoffs came in 1980.
They dispatched the Rams 34-13 at Texas Stadium. Two years later they hosted Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round, winning 30-17.
The Cowboys first loss in a Wild Card game came the next year in a 24-17 loss at home to the Rams.
They would play just one more playoff game with Tom Landry as head coach after that loss, a 1985 Divisional round loss at the Rams.
Jimmy Johnson’s first Wild Card playoff game was a 17-13 win at home against the Bears. It was the only time he coached in a Wild Card game in Dallas.
In 1996, the Cowboys trounced the Vikings, 40-15, at home for their final Wild Card win of the 20th Century.
The Cowboys would lose at home to Arizona in 1998 and Minnesota in 1999 in the Wild Card round.
The Wild Card round losing streak extended into the next century as the Cowboys fell to Carolina (2003) and Seattle (2006).
Dallas would end their first-round woes in 2009, beating the Eagles 34-14 at AT&T Stadium. They made it two straight with a 24-20 win over the Lions in 2014.
A 24-22 win over Seattle in 2019 at home made it three in a row.
The 49ers ended the streak in 2021 with a 23-17 victory at Dallas. The Cowboys rebounded last year with a 31-14 win at Tampa Bay.
Versus Green Bay
The Packers lead the all-time series 21-17, but the teams are 4-4 in playoff meetings.
The most infamous of all games out of the previous 35 is the 1967 Ice Bowl. The Packers won the NFL Championship game, 21-17, on Dec. 31, 1967.
Ironically, it was the second time Dallas had lost an NFL Championship game in the 1967 calendar year.
On Jan. 1, 1967, the Packers beat the Cowboys 34-27 at the Cotton Bowl for the title.
Green Bay has won the last four meetings, and nine of the last 10 overall. The last Dallas win was in 2016, a 30-16 win on three Dak Prescott touchdown passes.
Dallas is 12-9 at home against the Packers.
The Cowboys have lost all four meetings against Green Bay at AT&T Stadium. The last Dallas home win was at Texas Stadium in 2007, a 37-27 victory.
The Cowboys were 11-2 against the Packers at Texas Stadium and just 1-3 at the Cotton Bowl.
Trivial Pursuit
Can you name the only NFC team the Dallas Cowboys have never faced in the playoffs?
The answer?
The New Orleans Saints. Yep, that surprised me too.
You’d have thought at some point over the last 50-plus years they’d have met in the playoffs but not yet.
When Dallas takes the field on Sunday against the Packers it will reduce the number of NFC teams they haven’t met in the Wild Card round to just four.
The Cowboys have yet to play the Giants, Commanders, Falcons, or the Saints in the wild card round.
They have faced the Falcons (2-0) and Giants (0-1) in the divisional round. Dallas has lost to the Commanders twice in the NFC Championship game.
All-Time Playoff Records
Dallas starts the playoffs with a 36-30 (.545) record all-time.
In addition to the 8-6 (.571) Wild Card record, the Cowboys are 15-13 (.536) in the Divisional round.
They are 8-8 (.500) in the Conference championship game and 5-3 (.625) in the Super Bowl.
Dallas is 21-10 (.677) at home all-time in the playoffs. They are 10-17 (.370) away from Dallas.
The Super Bowls have all been played at neutral sites.
But while Dallas is 5-3 in the Super Bowl – played against an AFC opponent – they are not 5-3 in the playoffs against AFC teams.
That’s because they faced the Cleveland Browns in the playoffs three times in the 1960s. Dallas won just one of those three games.
Both were NFL teams prior to the 1970 merger.
After the merger, the Browns were moved to the new AFC along with the Baltimore Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Browns’ games gives Dallas an all-time mark of 6-5 (.545) against the AFC’s current teams in the playoffs.
By Divisions
NFC East
- Giants (0-1)
- Eagles (3-1)
- Commanders (0-2)
NFC West
- Cardinals (0-1)
- Rams (4-5)
- 49ers (5-4)
- Seahawks (1-1)
NFC South
- Falcons (2-0)
- Panthers (0-2)
- Saints (0-0)
- Buccaneers (3-0)
NFC North
- Bears (2-0)
- Lions (2-1)
- Packers (4-4)
- Vikings (4-3)
AFC East
- Bills (2-0)
- Dolphins (1-0)
- Patriots (0-0)
- Jets (0-0)
AFC South
- Texans (0-0)
- Colts (0-1)
- Jaguars (0-0)
- Titans (0-0)
AFC North
- Ravens (0-0)
- Bengals (0-0)
- Browns (1-2 — non-Super Bowl)
- Steelers (1-2)
AFC West
- Broncos (1-0)
- Chiefs (0-0)
- Raiders (0-0)
- Chargers (0-0)
To hell with the record. Just concentrate on winning today that’s all that matters.
That is great and all but what happens today is what matters. Green bay is already up 14 zip and it looks like what the texans did to cleavland yesterday young poised qb and defense that gets it up. Small ball ….. in your own house dallas? Really????? No wonder jerry is peeing down his leg.
I take it back. Dallas does not have a team to win players or coaches. Uhoh another rebuild. So long mike, so long Dan…..So long Dak???? And all those fans braced extreme cold and dangerous driving to watch this??????
If only. DQ might be solved for us with SEA, but MM and DP? JJ/SJ/WC will eff that up again.
cowboys keep getting these laid back guys with with football knowledge and that is great. But on game day, without details, discipline and urgency, I don’t care if you had 100 seasons of 12 wins if all that success and repetition only happens with certain opponents or certain days or location. But in finding the right coaches they have to work with the gm and owner…. Uh that only happened twice that the right guys were allowed in. Jimmy would send this entire team to the asthma field. (no slight on people with asthma) high school coaches make you run bleachers till your legs fall off. Colleges bench or take back scholarships. Pro players should take pay cuts or maybe go to other teams. I mean to go out and get manhandled on both sides of the ball is embarrassing to the fans, the organization the city and should be all the players and coaches involved. That was one of the most complete failures in cowboys history (I started watching as a kid in 1960). At least other teams battled with way less talent. You have every bit of talent to be champions but you collectively do not have the will.
Preach that gospel, Brother Daniel, preach it!!!
Yeah. The problem is the only rebuild that will be successful in Dallas is the one that starts by throwing the entire Jones family out of the building…