Trendlines: The Dallas Cowboys' historic ineptitude

a day ago

Welcome to Trendlines, your weekly installment of what's trending up and what's trending down in the world of sports.
This week, millions of Americans breathed a sigh of relief. No longer will they (and in this case me) be worried about whether their weekends would continue to be filled with boredom.
No, the NFL's Hall of Fame game marked the beginning of the preseason. It's the first sign that autumn is near and football is back.
Every new season means hope for teams that have never won a Super Bowl (like the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers, the Hall of Fame game participants).
It, unfortunately, also means that some classic teams that have recently struggled get another shot at rediscovering their greatness of yore.
And this is where we begin.
There are few things more delicious than 'America's team' (and the quotes are there for a reason) falling flat on its face over and over again.
Can you believe Dallas hasn't appeared in or won a Super Bowl since the mid-1990s? There are people I work with who weren't even alive then.
The Cowboys were truly mediocre last year and they're hoping to bounce back this season under new coach Brian Schottenheimer. I don't know how Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones landed on Schottenheimer, but things aren't looking good for the team with a Lone Star.
Vegas odds put the Cowboys' chances of winning a Super Bowl this year at about 2%.
How very, very sad that Dallas' Super Bowl drought looks like it'll hit the big 3-0 after this season.
When the Patriots were winning all of those Super Bowls, the big question was whether quarterback Tom Brady or head coach Bill Belichick was more responsible.
Well, the Pats haven't won a playoff game since Brady left. Brady went on to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Belichick, on the other hand, is now coaching in college.
A post shared by CNN Sports (@cnnsport) This has left the team from the Bay State in a world of hurt. They finished last season with more than three times as many losses as wins. They were so bad that they dumped their first-year head coach Jerod Mayo and brought in Mike Vrabel.
This season? The betting odds say that they will miss the playoffs again.
We're a long way from nobody being able to stop the Brady/Belichick duo.
Delicious.
Although they lost last night, the Lions have one of the five best chances of winning a Super Bowl this season. They have a better shot than any team that's never won one, except for my Bills.
I used to joke that the Bills hadn't made the playoffs since before my bar mitzvah. The funniest jokes are always the true ones. They didn't make the playoffs from the 2000 season through the 2016 season.
Those days are gone. The Bills are basically in contention all the time now. They have won a playoff game in every season dating back to the 2020-2021 season. This five-year streak is the longest in the franchise's history.
The question is whether they can finally get to the mountain top with MVP quarterback Josh Allen. They have the second best chance, according to Vegas odds makers.
If Allen and the Bills can do it, then who says the Lions, Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings or Tennessee Titans won't be next?

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Why Philip Rivers likely won't be a first ballot entry into Hall of Fame in 2026

Yahoo

21 minutes ago

Yahoo

Why Philip Rivers likely won't be a first ballot entry into Hall of Fame in 2026

Former Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers becomes eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026. And while his former teammate, tight end Antonio Gates, was enshrined into Canton on Saturday, Rivers may have to wait a but longer. Rivers will be part of a loaded list of first-time candidates in 2026, and that is the main reason why Rivers could be bypassed when the committee votes next spring. On that list are Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald and Bill Belichick. All three of them should pretty much be considered locks to be chosen for next year's class and since a class is generally pretty small (the 2025 class only had four members), Rivers will probably be waiting at least one more year. Eli Manning, who was chosen in the same draft as Rivers and is connected to him historically as the two were traded for each other, won two Super Bowls while Rivers never played in the big game. Manning was not chosen in his first year of eligibility, but because he won those two Super Bowls (and beat Tom Brady in each of them), one would think he'll get in ahead of Rivers. Then you have the fact that the committee often doesn't choose multiple players who played the same position to be in the same class, and that could keep Rivers waiting for several years. Make no mistake, though there are some who will argue whether or not Rivers deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, he undoubtedly does. He ranks sixth in NFL history in passing yards (63,440), sixth in touchdown passes (421) and ninth in wins (134). READ:Chargers great Antonio Gates elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame Four of the quarterbacks who have more wins than Rivers (Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, John Elway and Dan Marino) have already made it to Canton. The other four are Tom Brady, Brees, Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers, four players who will all join them at some point. Rivers was Chargers football for many years, a passionate player who left everything on the field and is one of the most loved and respected players in franchise history. He took the team to the playoffs six times and to the AFC Championship Game once. The only thing that eluded him was the Super Bowl. Rivers will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame at some point, but fans may have to wait a few years for that to be a reality. MORE CHARGERS CONTENT Chargers acquire Micah Parsons in proposed deal that sends Cowboys Najee Harris Trey Lance has potentially career-altering performance in Hall of Fame Game Chargers late-round pick has already locked himself into a roster spot These 4 Chargers players must show us something in Hall of Fame Game Chargers given close to no chance to win their first Super Bowl in 2025