Day 69 in the Cowboys’ 100-game countdown lands on a result that didn’t look flashy at the time, but it carried real weight in the franchise’s turnaround. Dallas opened the 1990 season at Texas Stadium against the San Diego Chargers, still living in the shadow of a 1-15 season and still waiting for signs that the rebuild had teeth.
Troy Aikman had gone 0-11 as a rookie starter in 1989. Jimmy Johnson needed evidence that the direction was right.
On September 9, 1990, the Cowboys got exactly that.
Dallas came out with purpose and put together the kind of opening drive a young team can build on. Aikman guided the offense down the field and capped it with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Dennis McKinnon for a 7-0 lead.
San Diego answered before the first quarter ended, as Mark Vlasic found Craig McEwen on a 14-yard touchdown. The Chargers then grabbed the lead in the second quarter on a one-yard Marion Butts run, sending Dallas into halftime trailing 14-7.
The second half had plenty of moments that could have pushed the game away from the Cowboys. Aikman was under constant pressure, taking five sacks and throwing an interception.
The offense never fully settled in, and San Diego still had opportunities to extend its lead. But the Dallas defense kept the game within reach.
Issiac Holt picked off Vlasic, the Chargers missed a field goal chance, and Ken Willis trimmed the margin to 14-10 with a 31-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
The turning point came with a little more than five minutes left. San Diego faced fourth-and-6 near midfield and went for a fake punt.
Gary Plummer got the ball, but Bill Bates and Danny Stubbs shut it down after only two yards. Suddenly, the Cowboys had life, the crowd had energy, and Aikman had a chance to do something he rarely got as a rookie: finish a game on his terms.
Dallas took advantage. Tommie Agee converted a huge fourth-and-2 with a 16-yard run, then Aikman connected with Kelvin Martin for 24 yards to the one-yard line.
With 1:58 remaining, Aikman sneaked in for the winning touchdown. San Diego’s final possession fizzled, and the Cowboys walked away with a 17-14 victory that felt far larger than an ordinary Week 1 win.
Aikman’s line told the story of a quarterback taking a step forward: 13-of-29 for 193 yards, one touchdown, one interception, plus the game-winning rushing score. Agee led the ground game with 59 yards, Martin finished with five catches for 78 yards, and rookie Emmitt Smith made his NFL debut with two carries for two yards. Michael Irvin was still working back from the 1989 knee injury that had interrupted his early career, so he was not a factor here, but the ingredients of the Triplets era were starting to come together.
The victory also snapped a 14-game home losing streak. Dallas had not won at Texas Stadium since September 25, 1988, against Atlanta.
More than anything, though, this was one of those games that signals a franchise is climbing out of the dark. The Cowboys had been beaten down for a year, and then they finally gave their young quarterback a late chance and watched him cash it in.
That’s how a new era starts.
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