This is the fourth post in a short series regarding the Dallas Cowboys’ playoff history. Below is a listing of the different “eras” covered:

1. 1966-1973: Click here.

2A. 1975-1979: Click here.

2B. 1980-1985: Click here.

3. 1991-1999: Click here.

4. 2003-present: See below.

As you might suspect, this part of the series is pretty slim. We have the 2003 playoffs, in which Steve Smith ran all over the Cowboys’ secondary and led Carolina to a 29-10 win. We also have last season’s 21-20 loss to Seattle in a game I still refer to as “The Botch” even if the nickname hasn’t caught on.

The article below from the Associated Press– referring to last year’s game as “The Flub”– provides some context:

As the Dallas Cowboys collected milestones such as the best start in club history this season, coach Wade Phillips sure liked connecting his team to some of the greatest squads in franchise lore.

Yet last week, when it was noted the Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game since 1996, Phillips sure was quick to distance his guys from the predecessors who’ve run up the longest postseason drought in team history.

Sorry, coach, you can’t have it both ways. After this weekend, the 2007 edition will be linked one way or another – either as the team that broke the spell or part of the group that’s extended it.

Since winning the Super Bowl following the 1995 season, the Cowboys have won a single playoff game, in the wild-card round the following year. Dallas lost at Carolina a week later and things haven’t been the same since.

Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith were together two more full seasons without taking a single step toward another Super Bowl. Worse yet, they lost a playoff game to Arizona. At home.

Cycling through coaches and quarterbacks, the Cowboys have only made the postseason twice more. Both were on the road as wild cards. Both, of course, were losses.

“They say, ‘They haven’t won a playoff game in 10 years (11 actually),’ but you’ve only been in four,” Phillips said. “It’s not like you’ve been 10 years in a row and haven’t won one. Part of it is getting in there. If you get in there enough, you’re going to win your share.”

Phillips has a good reason for being a bit defensive about this subject. After all, he’s 0-3 as a head coach in the playoffs dating to his days in Denver and Buffalo.

In lieu of fond playoff memories since 2003, for which there are few, below is a look at the time periods that elapsed between playoff wins in the past, calculated in days. The only ones included are those where a significant period of time passed between wins… which wasn’t often.

Sept. 24, 1960 (opening day) to Dec. 24, 1967 (vs. Cleveland in a 52-14 win): 2647 days

Dec. 24, 1967 to Dec. 26, 1970 (vs. Detroit in a 5-0 win): 1098 days

Dec. 23, 1973 (vs. Los Angeles in a 27-16 win) to Dec. 28, 1975 (vs. Minnesota in the “Hail Mary” game): 735 days

Jan. 16, 1983 (vs. Green Bay in a 37-26 win) to Dec. 29, 1991 (vs. Chicago in a 17-13 win): 3269 days

Dec. 28, 1996 (vs. Minnesota in a 40-15 win) to right now:

4029 days, or
575 weeks, or
96,696 hours, or
5,801,760 minutes, or
348,105,600 seconds.

Many thanks to time and date.com for its fine Date Duration Calculator. And let’s please get a win this Sunday so that all of this is indeed trivial.