(Orignally published on Prospects2.Pros.com)
The Cowboys are stuck in a familiar cycle of inconsistency, and after 24 games under Brian Schottenheimer, I'm no longer convinced he's the man to turn this franchise around.
Remember back during the preseason when I said championship-caliber teams stack wins early and often? I wasn't just talking about getting off to a good start. I was talking about establishing an identity, building momentum, and putting yourself in position to control your own destiny when December rolls around.
I also warned that if the Cowboys stumbled out of the gate, we'd probably be looking at more of the same. Another season of inconsistency, another round of excuses, and another year added to a championship drought that has already gone on far too long.
Well, here we are.
Seven games into the 2026 season, Dallas is sitting at 3-4, and from what I've seen, there's very little reason to believe this team is preparing to make a serious postseason run.
And that brings me to Brian Schottenheimer.
Since being named head coach in January 2025, Schottenheimer has compiled a 10-13-1 regular-season record, good for a 43.8% winning percentage.
That's 24 games. Ten wins.
For a franchise that talks about competing for championships every single year, those numbers are unacceptable.
I understand that rebuilding a football team takes time. I understand that coaches inherit problems they didn't create. But I also believe that after nearly a season and a half, we should be seeing something that suggests this program is moving in the right direction.
Right now, I'm struggling to find it.
Three Consecutive Wins. That's the Best We've Seen?
Here's a statistic that tells you plenty about the Schottenheimer era.
His longest regular-season winning streak as Dallas Cowboys head coach is just three games.
That happened in November 2025, when Dallas defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 33-16, Philadelphia Eagles 24-21, and Kansas City Chiefs 31-28.
Those victories briefly pushed the Cowboys to 6-5-1. For a moment, fans had something to feel good about. Maybe the team was finally figuring things out. Maybe Schottenheimer had found the right formula.
Then reality set in.
Dallas lost its next two games to Detroit and Minnesota and eventually finished the season 7-9-1, missing the playoffs.
That three-game stretch remains the longest winning streak of Schottenheimer's head-coaching career.
Think about that.
We're approaching the midway point of his second season, and the Cowboys still haven't demonstrated an ability to sustain success for more than three consecutive weeks.
In fact, through seven games in 2026, Dallas hasn't managed to win back-to-back games.
How exactly is a team supposed to contend for a championship when it can't consistently string victories together?
The frustration isn't simply that the Cowboys lose games. Every NFL team loses. It's how frequently Dallas follows a promising performance with a disappointing one.
Consider this season.
The Cowboys opened with a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants, bounced back to beat Washington, lost a close game to Baltimore, and then defeated Houston. Just when you thought some momentum might be building, Dallas dropped consecutive games to Tampa Bay and Green Bay.
Yes, I'll give Schottenheimer credit for the 38-21 victory over Philadelphia on October 26. The Cowboys went on the road and handled a division rival.
But Philadelphia was 2-5 after that loss.
One encouraging performance doesn't erase the inconsistency that preceded it.
That's been my biggest problem with this team. Every time there's a reason to believe things are improving, something happens to bring everybody back down.
Beating Arizona Won't Suddenly Make Dallas a Contender
The Cowboys face the Arizona Cardinals today, November 1, and Arizona enters the matchup with a 2-5 record.
Dallas should win this football game.
But even if the Cowboys beat the Cardinals convincingly, I'm not going to suddenly change my opinion of Schottenheimer.
Why should I?
Playoff-caliber teams are supposed to take care of struggling opponents. That's the minimum expectation, not some extraordinary accomplishment deserving a week of celebration.
The better teams build on those victories. They win the games they're favored to win, find ways to compete against stronger opponents, and avoid constantly giving back the progress they've made.
Now, to be fair, Dallas has shown it can score points. The offense is averaging 27 points per game through seven contests, which ranks among the better marks in the league.
The defense, however, is allowing 25.7 points per game. That's a problem, and it's one of several reasons this team continues to struggle.
Look at the Baltimore game. Dallas scored 31 points and still lost. Against Houston, the Cowboys needed 34 points to escape with a four-point victory.
You can blame individual players, missed assignments, injuries, or coaching decisions. Some of that criticism will be justified.
But eventually, the head coach has to be accountable for the entire product.
And right now, the product isn't good enough.
I don't see a team that consistently controls games. I see a team that too often makes winning more difficult than it needs to be.
Every possession seems to require a struggle. Every promising stretch comes with the possibility that something will go wrong.
Where's the killer instinct? Where's the ability to put opponents away and build on success?
From what I've seen, those qualities remain inconsistent at best.
Remember What Bill Parcells Walked Into?
For those of us who have followed this franchise for decades, the current situation should bring back some uncomfortable memories.
Think back to the Dave Campo era.
From 2000 through 2002, the Cowboys finished 5-11 in three consecutive seasons. Fifteen wins in three years.
I remember how frustrating those seasons were. It wasn't simply the losing. It was watching a once-proud franchise drift without a convincing sense of direction.
Then Jerry Jones hired Bill Parcells in 2003.
Parcells wasn't some miracle worker who immediately delivered a Super Bowl. But he brought a different level of accountability and expectation to the organization.
The Cowboys finished 10-6 in his first season and returned to the playoffs.
That was a five-win improvement from the previous year.
It showed what a strong head coach could accomplish when he established standards and demanded that his football team meet them.
Looking back, I believe Dallas gradually moved away from much of the discipline and accountability Parcells tried to establish.
That's my assessment of the organization, and it goes well beyond Schottenheimer.
The Cowboys have cycled through coaches, coordinators, personnel decisions, contract disputes, and different philosophies without finding a formula that consistently produces postseason success.
Schottenheimer certainly didn't create all those problems. Jerry Jones and the front office deserve their share of responsibility.
But Schottenheimer was hired to lead this team forward.
So far, I'm not convinced that's happening.
The Hardest Part of Being a Cowboys Fan Right Now
Here's where things get complicated.
I've reached the point where I believe the Cowboys should move on from Schottenheimer after this season.
But what does that mean for the remaining games?
If Dallas keeps losing, the pressure to make a coaching change will only grow. Another disappointing finish might finally force the organization to reconsider its direction.
Yet, as Cowboys fans, we're wired to root for this team to win.
I don't care how frustrated I am on Monday morning. When Sunday comes around and that star is on the field, there's still a part of me that wants Dallas to beat whoever lines up across from them.
That's what makes this so difficult.
I want the Cowboys to win. I just don't want a handful of meaningless late-season victories to convince the front office that everything is fine and another year of the same approach is justified.
There's a difference between wanting your team to lose and believing that continued losing might be the only thing that brings meaningful change.
I don't want players giving up. I don't want anyone intentionally losing football games. But I'm also tired of watching the franchise mistake short stretches of improvement for genuine progress.
That distinction matters.
How Many More Seasons Are We Supposed to Accept?
The Cowboys haven't reached an NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season.
Their last Super Bowl victory came in January 1996.
We're talking about three decades of watching one of the NFL's most recognizable franchises repeatedly fall short of the same ultimate goal.
And here we are in 2026, still debating whether this team has the coaching, personnel, discipline, and organizational direction to make a legitimate championship run.
At some point, patience stops being reasonable and starts becoming acceptance of mediocrity.
One losing season hurts. Two consecutive losing seasons raise serious questions. Three in a row can set an organization back years.
We've seen that movie before in Dallas.
Could Schottenheimer turn things around over the remaining ten games? Sure. I'm not going to pretend the season is mathematically over or that football teams can't improve.
But I can only judge what I've seen.
And what I've seen from the Cowboys under Schottenheimer isn't a team that looks ready to compete with the NFL's elite when the stakes are highest.
I see flashes of good football surrounded by far too much inconsistency. I see an organization that continues to struggle with roster construction, major contract decisions, and establishing a clear long-term identity.
Most importantly, I don't see enough evidence that Schottenheimer is the head coach who will finally change that.
Maybe the Cowboys surprise me. I'd love to be wrong.
But after 24 games, I'm comfortable saying I've seen enough.
I believe Dallas needs a new direction at head coach after the 2026 season.
The Cowboys have spent far too many years asking their fans to believe that next season will be different.
At some point, the franchise has to give us a reason to believe it.
Where do you stand on Brian Schottenheimer? Should the Cowboys give him another season, or have you seen enough, too?
