The Dallas Cowboys went from "Next Year's Team" in the late 1960's
to "America's Team" in the 1970's with four Super Bowl appearances,
including two Super Bowl titles. The Cowboys fell off during the 1980's as the
49ers took supremacy of the NFC and the NFL. After Jerry Jones bought the
Dallas Cowboys and cleaned house in the organization in the late 1980's, which
was heavily criticized, the team went to the bottom of the NFL with a record of
1-15 in 1989. A few years later the new Cowboys, put together by Jimmy Johnson
and Jerry Jones, became an NFL powerhouse once again, and built a team that
would go on to win three Super Bowls in four years and resurface the Dallas
Cowboys as "America's Team", establishing the Cowboys as one of the
elite franchises in the NFL along with the Packers, Steelers, and 49ers
(Patriots would later join this list of elite franchises).

Unfortunately for the Cowboys and their fans, the last Super Bowl win came
in January of 1996 and the franchise has only won two playoff games since their
Super Bowl victory over the Steelers. The Cowboys have basically become just
another franchise in the NFL since the mid 1990's and even so the NFL continues
to be the dominant sport in the United States. The NFL is bigger than any one
player and more importantly the NFL is bigger than any team. In 2008, the New
England Patriots lost their super star quarterback and reigning NFL Most
Valuable Player for the season because of an injury in Tom Brady during the
first game on the season and believe it or not the NFL continued to carry on,
the Patriots still had fans in their seats and with back up quarterback Matt
Cassel the Patriots went on to go 11-5. Although the Patriots did miss the
playoffs that season you could still consider that season a success after
losing the best player in the league so early in the 2008 season.

Is the NFL better off with franchises like the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh
Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots being
powerhouses of the league? I would say yes, but whether those teams are any
good or not the NFL will continue to shine and it will be the most popular
sport in the U.S. It is unfornate to see that of those five teams, the Cowboys
are the only franchise that hasn't recently experienced a deep playoff run or
isn't viewed as a team to make a run at the Super Bowl for the upcoming 2012
season, but it is reality and Cowboys' fans everywhere must come to terms with
that reality whether they want to or not.

It is important to point out that the only constant since Jerry Jones bought
the Dallas Cowboys is Jerry Jones. The idea that it is time for the Dallas
Cowboys' owner to step down as at least the General Manager has been spoken
about for years, but this is another reality that Cowboys' fans must come to
terms with, and that is that Jerry Jones is not stepping down as the GM of the
Dallas Cowboys. No matter how much Cowboys' fans whine and cry about this
matter Jerry Jones can do whatever he pleases with the Cowboys' organization
because he is the owner and that will not change anytime soon. Cowboys' fans
must hope that Mr. Jones brings in someone into the front office that will help
build the Cowboys back into a powerhouse, or maybe that person is already in
the organization and just hasn't had the success the Cowboys and their fans are
hoping for. Only time will tell. One thing is certain, the NFL will continue to
shine as the most popular sport in the U.S. with or without the Dallas Cowboys.