Losing Badly and Winning Ugly During Super Bowl Seasons, Pt. 2
By Matt Cordon (kh). Filed in 1990s, Remembering Those Glory Days |
The Triplets: Irvin, Smith, and Aikman
This post is part two of a two-part series. Please visit this post for Part 1, which focuses on the Super Bowl seasons of the 1970s.
Just as was the case with the five Super Bowl seasons of the 1970s, there were common aspects of the three Super Bowl seasons in the 1990s. These aspects included: (a) strong starts; (b) some bad losses; (c) some ugly wins; and (d) strong finishes.
1992: Super Bowl XXVII Champions
Strong Start: 3-0
Dallas beat three division opponents– the Redskins, the Giants, and the Cardinals– to begin the season at 3-0. It represented the team’s first 3-0 start in nine years.
Bad Losses: at Philadelphia, vs. Los Angeles
The Cowboys came off a bye with a 3-0 record and faced the Eagles at Philly on Monday Night Football. The results were disastrous, as the Cowboys turned the ball over four times in a 31-7 loss. In week 11, the Cowboys fell to a bad Rams team (3-6 entering the game) by a 27-23 margin.
Ugly Wins: at New York
In week 2, the Cowboys nearly blew a 34-0 lead by allowing the Giants to score 28 straight points. Dallas finally put the G-Men away late in the game.
Strong Finish
The Cowboys followed up a 20-17 loss to Washington by routing Atlanta and recording a solid win over Chicago. The win over the Bears was the team’s 13th victory of the season, establishing a team record.
1993: Super Bowl XXVIII Champions
Strong Start: (Okay, not this year)
The Cowboys were without Emmitt Smith for the first two games of the 1993 season, and the team dropped the first two games. However, once Smith returned in week 3, the Cowboys improved to 7-2 with seven consecutive wins.
Bad Losses: The Snow Bowl
1993 was the year of the Snow Bowl against Miami on Thanksgiving Day, which featured (of course) Leon Lett’s heroics. This game defined a bad loss.
Ugly Wins: at N.Y. Jets
There really weren’t too many ugly wins in 1993, but against the Jets, Dallas managed to turn the ball over five times (three picks, two fumbles). That’s pretty ugly.
Strong Finish: Five straight, plus one for the ages
The Cowboys rebounded from their Thanksgiving Day loss to Miami by winning five straight, including a huge 16-13 win at the Meadowlands to clinch home field advantage in the playoffs.
1995: Super Bowl XXX Champions
Strong Start: 4-0
Dallas began the 1995 season by winning four straight, including a 35-0 rout of the Giants and a 31-21 win over Denver, coached then by Wade Phillips.
Bad Losses: Two losses to the Redskins; the 4th-and-1 game
Dallas lost twice to Washington in 1995, and both games were bad. However, nothing was worse than the 20-17 loss at Philly in the game where Barry Switzer went for it twice on fourth-and-one.
Ugly Wins: vs. N.Y. Giants
The Giants were 5-10 coming in to Dallas in a game the Cowboys had to win to stay on pace for the NFC East title. Head coach Barry Switzer commented, “[W]e’re still not playing like a championship football team.” (Note: I attended this game, and I will attest that it was ugly…)
Strong Finish: 37-13 at Arizona
Of the eight seasons in which the Cowboys have advanced to the Super Bowl, the team never got on a roll at the end of the season in one game like the 1995 Cowboys did. Receiver Kevin Williams exploded for more than 200 receiving yards in a victory that gave Dallas enough momentum to get through the playoffs.
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Tags: Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl
