Following the Eagles trip to the SB, I was getting ripped by a couple of buddies (Giants and Eagles fans, respectively) related to Nick Foles having the same amount of success in 8 days (2 playoff wins) that Dallas has over the last 20+. This got me to thinking: In my conscious sports life (from roughly 1996/1997 through today), the Cowboys have been a joke on a nearly Cleveland Browns level.
If you had to rank the most meager Big 4 sports franchises in terms of on-the-field/court/ice success (specifically actually contending for a championship) over the last two decades, where would the Cowboys rank?
NFL short list
1. Cleveland Browns - 1 playoff appearance (2002), winless season, 1-15 season. Almost no regular season success whatsoever.
2. Buffalo Bills - just broke a 17 year playoff appearance drought
3. Detroit Lions - 0 playoff wins
4. Cincinnati Bengals - playoff wins
5. Dallas Cowboys
Teams like the Vikings, Eagles, Chargers who have not won the whole thing have been true contenders many years and made conference championship appearances.
Even often-futile franchises in other sports have broken through over the past 2 decades (Warriors, Cavs, Astros, Marlins, Phillies, Mets (multiple WS appearances at least), etc. It's very possible that the Cowboys could be somewhere in the 10-15 most futile franchises in all of North American sports for the past 2+ decades.
Let's hope the next decade is where the bleeding stops.