The Dallas Cowboys are back in familiar territory: waiting, hoping, and watching the championship drought stretch on. Since winning Super Bowl XXX over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1996, they haven’t reached the NFC Championship Game or lifted another Lombardi Trophy, and this season has done little to suggest that run is ending anytime soon.
Dallas entered Week 9 having lost three of its last four, and that slide has only sharpened the criticism around Jerry Jones’ role as general manager. For some around the league, the problem isn’t just the roster or the results. It’s the structure.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter didn’t leave much room for optimism when he weighed in with the Inside Football crew.
"Jerry, and I hope he lives a long time, but he will not hoist that Lombardi trophy again. He will not.
He does not have a business plan that's effective in this current NFL," Carter said. "He is lost.
Former Arizona Cardinals executive Steve Keim was just as blunt when asked whether Jones could change his approach.
"I say no, number one, to answer your question. And two, like, listen, at his age, Dallas Cowboys are keeping him alive, are keeping him getting out of bed in the morning.
"So he writes the checks. He owns a team.
That's his prerogative. But he's got to take the sh*t that comes with it.
The broader point from the discussion was clear: the Cowboys are being viewed as a franchise stuck in place, with Jones’ leadership at the center of that frustration. The team’s recent lack of progress and Jones’ failure to land a top-tier head coach during the rebuild have only fueled that belief.
For Cowboys fans, the cycle is painfully familiar. Hope arrives, expectations rise, and disappointment follows. But the 2026 version of that story is landing harder than most.
With the trade deadline just days away, the next move - or lack of one - will say plenty about how seriously Dallas is trying to close the gap.
In Other News...
Cowboys Frustration With Brian Schottenheimer Is Getting Harder To Ignore
The Cowboys left Sunday with 30 points on the board and still had plenty to sort through after a loss to the Cardinals, because the number alone did not tell the story of how the offense functioned. CeeDee Lamb made it clear afterward that execution was not where it needed to be, and the fact that three of those points came on field goals only sharpened the frustration around an attack that never quite played with the urgency Dallas needed.
Dak Prescott also pointed to a lack of aggression in the late-game approach, a comment that lands squarely in the middle of the growing scrutiny around Brian Schottenheimer. The criticism is not just about one conservative sequence or one play call, but about a broader pattern of cautious decision-making and design choices at key moments, the kind of thing that tends to linger when a team keeps coming up short in games it feels it should have controlled. [Read more 🡒]
Von Miller Just Warned Cowboys Fans About This Colts Trap Game
The Cowboys are trying to steady themselves at 3-5 after the loss to Arizona, and the timing of their next game makes the margin for error feel even thinner. Indianapolis comes in at 2-6, but the record alone does not tell the whole story, especially with the Colts in the middle of roster changes and a roster that could look different soon.
Von Miller called the Colts a scary opponent for that reason, noting how players on a team in that kind of spot can be motivated to put good tape out there before any trades shake things up. For Dallas, that makes this less like a straightforward matchup against a struggling team and more like the kind of trap game that can turn into a problem if the Cowboys are not ready from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Still Waiting On Two Crucial Calls Before Colts Game
The Cowboys are heading into Week 9 with two important names still in question, and both could matter plenty against the Colts. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Joey Porter Jr. and George Pickens will be limited, while stopping short of confirming either one for Sunday, leaving Dallas to monitor two players who have become central to the conversation this week.
Pickens situation carries extra weight because of the injury concern and the constant buzz around his future, while Porters availability also looms large for a defense trying to keep pace. Dallas still has time to sort out the final call, but until those decisions come in, the matchup in Indianapolis is already carrying a little more uncertainty than the Cowboys would prefer. [Read more 🡒]