For the first time ever Cowboys have gone two straight decades without an NFC title game appearance

If you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan that’s 30 years old or younger, you haven’t seen a lot of success since you’ve been alive. Of course, if you’re a fan who’s seen a child go to high school you likely vividly remember the days of success for the team. You lived with other NFL teams wondering how they could possibly catch the Cowboys, and you hold on tight to those memories.

Another Dallas Cowboys season has come and gone and with it the hope that this was the time where it would be different. The Cowboys will see Super Bowl LIV confetti fall with only five trophies at their world headquarters, just as they’ve seen for the 23 title games before it.

Speaking of title games, it has been a long time since the Cowboys found themselves in what technically is one. While Dallas has a huge Super Bowl drought, their absence in NFC Championship Games is just as long. 2019 ending for them confirms that they have gone an entire decade - the one that Jason Garrett presided over - without so much as even appearing in an NFC Championship Game (although they were a step away three times).

What’s more is that this was unfortunately the second decade in a row that the Cowboys have missed an NFC Championship Game as they did not appear in one from 2000 to 2009 either.

This is the first time in Dallas Cowboys franchise history that they have failed to appear in an NFC Championship Game in two straight decades.

Consider the types of players that have played for this team since 2000. We’re talking about DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Marcus Spears, Roy Williams (both of them), Tony Romo, Marion Barber, Terrell Owens, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin, Dez Bryant, Sean Lee, Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, you could go on for as long as you like depending on who you want to include.

None of them yielded even an NFC Championship Game appearance in two straight decades. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.