Dak Prescott Isn’t Why the Cowboys Haven’t Won It All

Over the years, every time the Cowboys have fallen short, I already know where the conversation is going. Dak Prescott.

Is this the easy answer for many? The simple answer is “yes”, and it’s always the loudest answer. This is the go to when another season ends without a real run, and I get it, he’s the quarterback.

In Dallas, that job comes with more heat than any other position on any team in the NFL.

But when I went back and looked at every season Dak Prescott has played in the NFL, I found one thing all Super Bowl teams have in common.

I don’t think Dak Prescott is why the Cowboys haven’t won it all.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he is above criticism, no one is. You don’t have to sell me on the bad playoff moments because we’ve all watched them.

Everyone has felt the frustration of another early exit, wondering why this team keeps falling short season after season.

What I’m saying is simple. Fans have made Dak the whole story, and I don’t think the numbers support this ideology.

The Super Bowl Standard is a Lot Higher than What Dallas has had

When you look at the previous Super Bowl winning teams, one big thing stood out. The last 11 Super Bowl champions finished with an average scoring-defense rank of 5.3.

Recent winners fit that pattern too:

2025 Seattle Seahawks-1st in scoring defense

2024 Philadelphia Eagles-2nd in scoring defense

2023 Kansas City Chiefs-2nd in scoring defense

The 2022 Chiefs were the outlier in this group, and won with the 16th scoring defense because Patrick Mahomes was playing on a different level that season.

Now let’s stack that next to Dak’s Cowboys.

From 2016 through 2025, Dallas averaged a 14.3 scoring-defense ranking and allowed 22.72 points per game. That’s not terrible, but it’s nowhere near the defense needed to bring a Super Bowl back to Dallas.

I think that gap matters. What about you?

Dallas had some Windows

I’m not going to act like Dallas didn’t give Dak some chances.

They did.

Dallas finished 5th in scoring defense in 2016, 6th in 2018, 7th in 2021, and 5th in both 2022 and 2023. All these years were real chances for the Cowboys.

When I looked at the rosters the team fielded these years, there were some weak spots on offense, but they had enough balance in a couple of these years to do some damage in the postseason if everything came together.

That’s the main reason why this conversation is not about pretending Dak Prescott never had help.

I want it to be about him not having that level of help often enough.

The Ugly Years Matter Too

This may be the part a lot of fans skip over a little too fast.

When we look at the good season, we have to take a glimpse into the bad seasons, and some of the bad ones were outright brutal.

2020-28th in scoring defense (29.6)

2024-31st in scoring defense (27.5)

2025-32nd in scoring defense (30.1)

You’re not winning a Super Bowl with those defensive outputs.

I don’t care who the quarterback was those seasons. If your defense is leaking points at that rate, you gotta think you’re asking too much from one player.

This is Where the Dak Prescott Debate Gets Lazy

I know it’s much easier to say Dak Prescott is the problem. It gives fans one face, one name, and one target, but football is messier than that type of simplicity. The Cowboys have been dysfunctional for a long time.

When I look at Dak’s full run, I don’t see a quarterback who has been perfect. I see a quarterback who had some rough moments, mixed with a team that has not consistently matched the formula most Super Bowl winners follow.

The average for a Super Bowl champion, in Dak Prescott’s 11-year career, had a defense living near the top five. Dak’s Cowboys’ teams have been much closer to the middle ground, and in several years, below that threshold.

You Can Blame Dak Prescott and Still Admit the Bigger Problem

This is how I see it.

If you want to say he needed to play better in certain moments, I’m with you.

If you’re saying Dak Prescott is why the Cowboys have not won it all, I think that skips over way too much. The numbers point to something bigger, they point to a team that has had some legit windows, but not the kind of year-after-year defensive support that usually rides with a title team.

This matters whether fans want to admit it or not.

Dak Prescott Has Been Part of it, Just Not All of it

Dak Prescott has been part of the reason Dallas falls short. I don’t see a way around that comment. He just hasn’t been the whole reason, and I don’t think the numbers say he has been the biggest reason every time fans want to make him out to be.

When the last 11 Super Bowl Champions average a top-six defense and Dak’s Cowboys sit at a 14.3 average, how can we say the problem hasn’t been bigger than one quarterback for a while now.

So yes, be hard on Dak Prescott when he deserves it.

I just wouldn’t make him the only answer to a much bigger Cowboys problem.