“Is this the year the Cowboys win the Super Bowl?”

That is a headline that appears seemingly every season in some sports magazines. Perhaps it is the Cowboys they include in this headline because they are, by some accounts, America’s Team. Yet, 16 other National Football League franchises have won a Super Bowl since the Cowboys captured their most recent to complete the 1995 season.

So, let me answer this headline. Is this the year the Cowboys win the Super Bowl?

No.

There are so many factors working against Dallas beginning with their head coach, Mike McCarthy.

It is not that McCarthy is a bad coach, in fact he is quite accomplished, but he won a Super Bowl while mentoring the Green Bay Packers and no NFL coach has ever won a Super Bowl with a different franchise after winning one. McCarthy is not likely to interrupt this trend.

Second, brace yourselves Dallas fans, Dak Prescott is not a Super Bowl winning quarterback. His postseason record reads a lot like baseball’s Clayton Kershaw postseason records. Kershaw is a starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers and for a number of seasons was the best at his position. But his postseason record is well off his regular season stats. In 26 postseason decisions, Kershaw has lost as many games as he has won with an ERA of 4.49.

For the Cowboys, Prescott has started seven postseason games, losing five of them and never advancing to an NFC Championship Game.

So, how could the Cowboys win a Super Bowl with Prescott listed as their starting quarterback? If he got injured and the Cowboys had something like that to overcome, and San Francisco castoff Trey Lance led an inspired effort with talent we haven’t seen since he was drafted, the Cowboys could win it all.

Not likely.

So, what happens this year?

I’d say there is a lot better chance of McCarthy being fired after the 2024 season than Dallas hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. And where does this season’s journey for the Cowboys start?

In Cleveland, the Browns have a defense that pushes their mother and kids out of the way headed to the stadium. They are surly and mean, tough, and prepared to excel this season as long as their quarterback, Deshawn Watson, plays the game inside the lines.

Both these teams are looking to avenge their early exit from the playoff field in 2023. The Cowboys were blown out on their home field by the Green Bay Packers, 48-32, during the same Wild Card Weekend that the upstart Houston Texans blasted the Browns, 45-14.

Now these two franchises meet, and the Browns don’t have any headlines questioning whether this is the year they will win the Super Bowl. After all, the Browns are one of the few NFL franchises that has never even played in a Roman Numeral game.

And while that is a far reach this season, taking down an overrated Cowboys squad is not.

Qoxhi Picks: Cleveland Browns (-2½) over Dallas Cowboys