What was your worst year to be a Cowboys Fan?

Established1971 · Apr 10, 2020

Jumbo075 said:
What was your worst year as a Cowboys fan?

Mine was 1988. In my lifetime, which started in 1965, the Cowboys had never won less than 7 games in a season, except for the strike shortened 1982 season, when they went 6-3 and made the NFL championship game for the 3rd straight season. And they had only 3 seasons of 7 wins (1965, 1986 & 1987) in that time. At the age of 23, I had witnessed 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966-1985. The Cowboys had started 6-2 in 1986 on their way to a 21st winning season, only to crater to a 1-7 finish after Danny White was injured, and Steve Pelleur took over at Quarterback. 1986 was their first losing season since 1964, and the first I had ever witnessed.

To watch Tom Landry suffer through the humiliation of a 3-13 season in 1988 was excruciating. That was BEFORE he got fired in February 1989.

I hear you but the year before was a candidate for worst for me. Strike shortened season and The Commanders win the Super Bowl after they had won a SB in a strike shortened season just 5 years before that, drove me crazy/ And to see players like Danny White, Randy White and others break the picket line and play and still lose games was enfuriating.

Valkyr · Apr 10, 2020

BigStar said:
9/8/02
We lost to the Texans in the their inaugural game Was hard going to school the next day in Skins territory...still rocked my Emmitt jersey!

Just horrible. That game set quarterbacking back about 50 years.

Risen Star · Apr 10, 2020

2020.

xwalker · Apr 10, 2020

Jumbo075 said:
What was your worst year as a Cowboys fan?

Mine was 1988. In my lifetime, which started in 1965, the Cowboys had never won less than 7 games in a season, except for the strike shortened 1982 season, when they went 6-3 and made the NFL championship game for the 3rd straight season. And they had only 3 seasons of 7 wins (1965, 1986 & 1987) in that time. At the age of 23, I had witnessed 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966-1985. The Cowboys had started 6-2 in 1986 on their way to a 21st winning season, only to crater to a 1-7 finish after Danny White was injured, and Steve Pelleur took over at Quarterback. 1986 was their first losing season since 1964, and the first I had ever witnessed.

To watch Tom Landry suffer through the humiliation of a 3-13 season in 1988 was excruciating. That was BEFORE he got fired in February 1989.

The low point was the 44-0 drubbing by the 85 Bears...

I was one of the few Cowboys fans that was ecstatic when Jerry/Jimmy came in to take over the team.

kskboys · Apr 10, 2020

None specific, but sometime in the late 90's. It was obvious the team should be broken down and we should start over, but due to terrible GMing, we spun our wheels for years making pathetic attempt after pathetic attempt to stay relevant.

Pantone282C · Apr 10, 2020

Jumbo075 said:
What was your worst year as a Cowboys fan?

Mine was 1988. In my lifetime, which started in 1965, the Cowboys had never won less than 7 games in a season, except for the strike shortened 1982 season, when they went 6-3 and made the NFL championship game for the 3rd straight season. And they had only 3 seasons of 7 wins (1965, 1986 & 1987) in that time. At the age of 23, I had witnessed 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966-1985. The Cowboys had started 6-2 in 1986 on their way to a 21st winning season, only to crater to a 1-7 finish after Danny White was injured, and Steve Pelleur took over at Quarterback. 1986 was their first losing season since 1964, and the first I had ever witnessed.

To watch Tom Landry suffer through the humiliation of a 3-13 season in 1988 was excruciating. That was BEFORE he got fired in February 1989.

It was much the same for me in '88. I grew up with the Cowboys and Tom Landry starting with their very first season, (though I was a bit young to really understand the context of that peculiar expansion draft.)

Witnessing so many successful seasons was just pure joy as a fan. Even during some of the lean years, we knew the return trip to success was short. We were spoiled by the Meredith and Staubach years!

Had Danny White stayed healthy, things might have been different for a while.

That dismal '88 season culminated in Landry's unceremonious firing in '89 - the wistful dream became the nightmare of uncertainty.
Thankfully, Jimmy Johnson, a native Texan, eventually got the ship righted and the franchise flourished once again.
Edited

Pantone282C · Apr 10, 2020

DallasEast said:
It has been nearly 35 years but that one game remains a black hole in my soul.

A big fat bummer of a loss - totally unexpected and disgraceful.

Pantone282C · Apr 10, 2020

plasticman said:
1986.....the season that broke the 20 year winning streak.

Nobody saw it coming, in fact, quite the opposite. They USFL had just folded and that meant the Cowboys now had Herschel Walker to complement Tony Dorsett.

They were getting fantastic productivity out of their rookie 1st round pick, Michael Sherrard, a speedy WR.

The Cowboys went 6-2 in the first 8 games. They looked strong. The RB's were running roughshod through the NFL. Walker was not only huge, he had olympic speed and was a great receiver. He had over 140 yards receiving in three games that season.

The 2nd half of the season was just the worst, even worse than the first half of the 2010 season. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

They would be 150 yards better than the opponent and still lose. Danny White went down for a while. Penalties were ridiculous and they lost games you would call a fluke but it would happen again the next week.

Acute pain after so much promise. It was shaping up to be the crowning achievement of Danny White's career.

Pantone282C · Apr 10, 2020

StarBoyz83 said:
Last year wasnt the worst but it was really weird I really couldn't get into it last season. Like they started good because they played weak teams but it's like I knew something was coming after the jets game I already knew the season was done.

I never liked losing seasons or mediocre teams, but I was glad to see the result - a change in coaching and schemes. It looked so good to start out, but it became painfully obvious that the team was not of a championship caliber.

FrankM · Apr 10, 2020

For me it was 1985. Although we made the playoffs, there was the blowout losses to the Bears and Bengals. Also the loss to the Cardinals on MNF. I was in Jr High School and my friends teased me about every loss that year. Thankfully I was out of school for Winter break for the 20 - 0 playoff loss to the Rams. I thought Eric Dickerson was going to rush for over 300 yards that game. He came close.
It was Landry's last winning season.

Bobhaze · Apr 10, 2020

Worst year was probably 1997, the last season under Barry Switzer. We had our first losing season since 1990 and it was clear at that point that Jerry had become the de facto face of the franchise and chief football decision maker.

We’ve mostly been in the playoff wilderness since. Sure we’ve won some regular season games, and 3 wild card games in the last 20+ seasons. But the once dominant team that ruled the 70s and 90s became a living example of how hubris and nepotism can make the hill to win a championship twice as high as it should be.

DallasEast · Apr 10, 2020

Pantone282C said:
A big fat bummer of a loss - totally unexpected and disgraceful.

For me, the loss was like Budd buried me alive in a graveyard... but without a flashlight.

GenoT · Apr 10, 2020

Jumbo075 said:
What was your worst year as a Cowboys fan?

Mine was 1988. In my lifetime, which started in 1965, the Cowboys had never won less than 7 games in a season, except for the strike shortened 1982 season, when they went 6-3 and made the NFL championship game for the 3rd straight season. And they had only 3 seasons of 7 wins (1965, 1986 & 1987) in that time. At the age of 23, I had witnessed 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966-1985. The Cowboys had started 6-2 in 1986 on their way to a 21st winning season, only to crater to a 1-7 finish after Danny White was injured, and Steve Pelleur took over at Quarterback. 1986 was their first losing season since 1964, and the first I had ever witnessed.

To watch Tom Landry suffer through the humiliation of a 3-13 season in 1988 was excruciating. That was BEFORE he got fired in February 1989.

Gotta agree, Jumbo. 1988, for sure.

People often forget that, after piloting bombers in WWII, Tom Landry spent 40 consecutive seasons as a pro player and/or coach (1949-through-1988, inclusive) — 29 of those seasons as a very successful head coach.

I’ve been a fan since the first season (1960) and watching the team slowly descend in the mid/late 1980s was tough to deal with. It was obvious by then that Landry’s career was winding down, and that the end was near.

A sad time.

Pantone282C · Apr 10, 2020

Bobhaze said:
Worst year was probably 1997, the last season under Barry Switzer. We had our first losing season since 1990 and it was clear at that point that Jerry had become the de facto face of the franchise and chief football decision maker.

We’ve mostly been in the playoff wilderness since. Sure we’ve won some regular season games, and 3 wild card games in the last 20+ seasons. But the once dominant team that ruled the 70s and 90s became a living example of how hubris and nepotism can make the hill to win a championship twice as high as it should be.

Jones became the epitome of our nemesis.

fivetwos · Apr 10, 2020

Bobhaze said:
Worst year was probably 1997, the last season under Barry Switzer. We had our first losing season since 1990 and it was clear at that point that Jerry had become the de facto face of the franchise and chief football decision maker.

We’ve mostly been in the playoff wilderness since. Sure we’ve won some regular season games, and 3 wild card games in the last 20+ seasons. But the once dominant team that ruled the 70s and 90s became a living example of how hubris and nepotism can make the hill to win a championship twice as high as it should be.

I'm all happy at how well said that was, and sad at how true it is.

Looking back to that time, I personally still had hope the triplets, despite the hollow core underneath, could still will their way to one more.

Pantone282C · Apr 10, 2020

DallasEast said:
For me, the loss was like Budd buried me alive in a graveyard... but without a flashlight.

And still getting our eyeballs burned right outa our heads with pepper spray!

CowboyDAK · Apr 10, 2020

I’m from the Philly area originally and my dad and brother took me to an eagles v cowboys game. It was the one where Quincy Carter didn't complete a pass to a receiver and it was freezing as cold. That was a pretty brutal time.

Bullflop · Apr 10, 2020

Those sad Campo years were terribly hard to swallow, no doubt.

The '89 season's 1-15 debacle was pure torture, as well.

Tom Landry's last three years were painful, also.

Gawd, it hurts to even mention them!

Cowboyfanforlife · Apr 10, 2020

jazzcat22 said:
Yeah, except for the trade, which the owner had nothing to do with. That brought us Herschel Walker. In 1985 we got a 5th round pick from Houston and selected Walker, though knowing he was going into the USFL. But Schramm gambled and knew the new league would probably fold. And back then a 5th round pick meant more than what they do today, as far as getting decent player. As there were 12 rounds in the draft.

Little did anyone know, that 5th round pick brought us 12 draft picks and several players and 3 SB's.

Yea its those little obscure *footnotes* in team history, that actually planted the seeds for the 90's, that and the time that SF jumped right ahead in the '85 draft to pick J.Rice, otherwise he would have been playing for the boys and who knows where that would have led!

StarBoyz83 · Apr 10, 2020

Pantone282C said:
I never liked losing seasons or mediocre teams, but I was glad to see the result - a change in coaching and schemes. It looked so good to start out, but it became painfully obvious that the team was not of a championship caliber.

The coaching changes and signing cooper are the things I like about the offseason

What was your worst year to be a Cowboys Fan?

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