Cowboys' Crossroad: Was Broncos Loss Hiccup or Habit?

Chill Cowboys Nation, it's not uncommon for a Super Bowl contender to throw in a clunker this time of year

In 1970, the Dallas Cowboys lost a Monday Night Football game at home in November to the St. Louis Cardinals, 38-0.

The '92 squad was upset at Texas Stadium in November by the 3-6 Los Angeles Rams.

The '93 team lost by two touchdowns in November to the 3-6 Atlanta Falcons.

And in November of 1995, the 8-1 Cowboys lost by 18 points to the mediocre, 5-4 San Francisco 49ers.

Moral to the story: Sh-t happens. Even to good teams. Even late in the NFL season.

Not that the Cowboys shouldn't be embarrassed by last Sunday's blowout loss - in November - to the Broncos. But if they - like the aforementioned teams - use the defeat as a motivational wake-up call, they can look back at it as merely a pothole along their Super Bowl path.

After their lopsided loss, the '70 Cowboys won seven consecutive games to advance to Super Bowl V. In '92, they went 8-1 after the eye-opener against the Rams and won Super Bowl XXVII.  Likewise, a year later they went 8-1 after the Falcons loss and won Super Bowl XXVIII. The '95 Cowboys went 7-2 after their blowout in the Bay, ultimately winning Super Bowl XXX.

 A similar recovery - an identical lesson learned - and the 2021 Cowboys can shrug off the debacle against the 4-4 Broncos as an outlier en route to winning the NFC East, hosting a playoff game and ... who knows?

"Inexplicable," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones couched it.

No one has a rational explanation for what transpired Sunday in AT&T Stadium. Because one doesn't exist.

Amari Cooper dropped his first pass of the season. Trevon Diggs was beat for a touchdown by somebody named Tim Patrick. Dak Prescott played like Cooper Rush's backup. And the Cowboys did the (seemingly) impossible by turning a blocked punt into a Denver first down. All that was missing was a black cat, a full moon and ...

Hey, instead of turning their clocks back one hour, maybe the Cowboys turned them back one year? Or can we blame notorious Cowboys-hater Stephen A. Smith for simultaneously jumping on the bandwagon and veering it into the ditch? Was it the fault of that supposedly patriotic red stripe on the helmet? Or perhaps it's as simple as the Cowboys "eating the cheese" and underestimating the Broncos?

But there's even more available comfort in that their misery had company on a surreal Sunday in which favored teams went 3-8 against the point spread, including six outright losses. While the Cowboys were falling behind, 30-0, the 5-2 Bills couldn't manage a single touchdown in a shocking loss to the 1-6 Jaguars. the 2-5 Giants upset the 5-2 Raiders and the 7-1 Rams were pantsed at home by a Titans' team playing its first game without the league's best running back, Derrick Henry.

Illogical losses happen to the best teams. Remember that last - yep, November - Tom Brady and the Buccaneers lost at home to the Saints, 38-3. They were 7-5 heading into December, and we know how that turned out.

The Cowboys have an immediate chance against the Falcons this week to prove the Broncos fiasco was a hiccup rather than a habit.

For now, no need to hit the panic button. Maybe just a quick click on "refresh".