January, 22 2023—The Dallas Cowboys are about to face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs. Coming off their regular-season success of a back-to-back 12-win season, Dallas was poised for a run at the championship round for the first time in almost three decades.
From team warmups, it just felt like it wasn’t going to be the Cowboys year. Tony Pollard was lost early in the game due to a gruesome ankle injury, and the Dallas offense was stuck in the mud. What felt like a death by a thousand cuts ended with the 49ers routing Mike McCarthy’s squad, 19-12.
Even though 2021 and 2022 ended with consecutive playoff exits at the hands of Kyle Shanahan, it felt like 2023 was the season of an all-in push, and whenever Dallas had their shot at their long-standing rivals, they wouldn’t miss.
October 3, 2023—The Cowboys are off to a hot start yet again, heading into Week 5 with a 3-1 record, coming off a dominating victory at home against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
This is it. The NFL schedule makers are giving the Cowboys a chance to seek revenge on the 49ers in their home stadium just months after a poor offensive showing and exit from the postseason.
Heading into that game, the Dallas defense looked improved and capable of shutting down the 49ers for the first time in three years. Outside of the Week 3 game in Arizona, the Cowboys held the New York Giants, New York Jets, and Patriots to a combined 13 points. What could go wrong?
Everything blew up in smoke.
See, we should have known 2023 wouldn’t be different from every other disappointing season at that moment. Dallas took their revenge shot at the 49ers and not only swung and missed, but they also played with their tails between their legs.
The final score of 42-10 was not even the most embarrassing part for Dallas. After running back Jordan Mason scored the 49ers’ final touchdown of the game, tight end George Kittle followed him into the end zone, lifted his jersey, and showed the world he was wearing a “F*** Dallas” T-shirt underneath.
Dallas would go on to win nine of their remaining 12 regular-season games, reaching 12-5 for the third season in a row. A massive accomplishment for Mike McCarthy, who has a 36-15 regular-season record from 2021 to 2023.
It doesn’t matter. What matters is his 1-3 playoff record, with the third loss being a foundational collapse of the organization at AT&T Stadium to the 7th seed Green Bay Packers. No other 7th seed has won a playoff game in the Wild Card round before or since the NFL expanded to the new postseason format in 2020.
Something was rotten at the core of the Dallas Cowboys, and things needed to change.
After floating through football purgatory in 2024, Jerry Jones made a change and mutually parted ways with Mike McCarthy, the franchise’s third-most winning coach with 49 regular-season wins.
Instead of going after Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, and Mike Vrabel—all of whom were the top three candidates of the coaching cycle in 2025- Jones decided to take a chance on a first-time head coach, Brian Schottenheimer.
At the time, there was no reason for Schottenheimer to be considered for the job other than that he had been in the building for two years before getting the gig. He had not called plays at the NFL level in six seasons, his last stint being with the Seattle Seahawks.
Schottenheimer was an unknown, but so was the team he was about to take on. From the opening press conference, the head coach made one thing clear. He could talk X’s and O’s all day; Dallas wouldn’t have even considered him if he couldn’t. Schottenheimer made it his primary mission to build the best culture in professional sports.
Okay coach. We get that, but culture can’t possibly lead to wins, can it?
To cultivate beauty where decay exists, you have to dig down deep and remove the roots of what’s there.
In the middle of a contract standoff, Schottenheimer and the Cowboys felt like Micah Parsons was no longer a foundational player connected to their future. They traded away generational talent for an aging defensive tackle and the unknown of two first-round picks.
But Parsons felt like a square peg in Schottenheimer’s culture. Always wanting to call himself a leader, but never showing it in the same way as guys like Dak Prescott or Tyler Smith. They certainly wouldn’t lay down on a training table during a preseason home game to prove a point.
Dallas was laughed at for the move. Never in the history of football would a team be dumb enough to trade a future Hall of Fame player in their prime. The Cowboys quietly planted their seeds in the replenished soil and watered down the outside noise.
The Cowboys even decided to move on from Trevon Diggs, just two years after signing a massive contract extension and making history with 11 interceptions in 2021. Like Parsons, Diggs never felt like a fit for the new culture either.
Schottenheimer’s first season was a home run on offense, headlined by a career year from Dak Prescott and newcomers Javonte Williams and George Pickens. The defense was a total disaster, but that falls on the front office, which hand-picked Matt Eberflus to be the elder in the room as defensive coordinator. He was supposed to be Schottenheimer’s guiding hand until he learned.
He learned quickly. Eberflus was gone after just one season. Schottenheimer earned the Joneses’ trust to hand-pick a guy of his own and retool the coaching staff. Enter Christian Parker, an excellent teacher, communicator, and culture builder.
Schotty didn’t just get leaders on the coaching staff; he sought out leaders for the locker room. In 2025, Dallas added leaders like Javonte Williams, Tyler Booker, Kenny Clark, and Quinnen Williams. In 2026, they brought in Jalen Thompson, Rashan Gary, Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence, and Von Miller. The Cowboys suddenly have a team full of players who can lead the franchise on offense, defense, and special teams.
How much has changed since 2023? On the play where George Kittle showed America what he thought of the Cowboys, the Dallas defense had one defender on the field who had been to two championship games (Stephon Gilmore with the Patriots).
Now, as the Cowboys get ready to take on the New York Giants in Week 1 on Sunday Night Football, their defense has five players who have appeared in 11 championship games (Clark, Gary, Miller, Dee Winters, and Cobie Durant). Even Caleb Downs has experience going deep into the college football playoffs and holding up some hardware at the end. If Schottenheimer is looking to break the curse and get Dallas back to a place they haven’t been in 30 years, it’s good to add players who know what getting there looks like.
No longer does the leadership and culture of an entire franchise rest on the shoulders of one man in Dak Prescott. Schottenheimer’s mission has brought the Cowboys a leadership council, the entire team holding themselves to a higher standard, and a drama-free offseason around contract negotiations.
One man made it his mission to turn the franchise around from the inside out. Can Schottenheimer’s green thumb translate into wins and lead the Cowboys to an NFC Championship game or even a Super Bowl on Valentine’s Day? It all starts Sunday night, when the journey to turn Dallas from pretenders to contenders kicks off.