It feels so freeing to be done with the 2024 season.
There were only two surprises in the Dallas Cowboys’ season-ending loss to the Washington Commanders. One was that the game was even that competitive. The other was that Marcus Mariota, not Jayden Daniels, led Washington’s charge to victory. For Dallas, the key story in this one was finally ending this horrible season and moving on to new business.
There were no big revelations or takeaways as the Cowboys’ closed the book on 2024. A full game of Trey Lance showed us the same good and bad that he’s shown since entering the league. The athleticism was obvious and some of his throws were lasers, but at times had the accuracy of an Imperial Stormtrooper. Washington didn’t make things too hard for him either, focusing on stopping the run and forcing the inexperienced QB to sink or swim.
We already knew that Micah Parsons was a beast. We knew it’s been a rough year for Jake Ferguson. We knew DaRon Bland could hang with the league’s top receivers and that Brandon Aubrey doesn’t miss. We know Tyler Guyton desperately needs more offseason work. We know that this Mike McCarthy/Brian Schottenheimer offense has redzone problems and doesn’t have enough creativity to overcome talent deficiencies.
Now, at last, the Cowboys can do something about what they know. Coaching staff changes could come as soon as this week. Decisions on re-signing some players or making others salary cap casualties could happen within the next two months. Free agency starts on March 10th and the draft won’t be far behind. The business of trying to make this team better, we hope, can finally begin after one of the more demoralizing seasons in modern franchise history.
But “hope” is the problem these days among Cowboys fans. As Morgan Freeman’s character in “The Shawshank Redemption” said:
Following this team has become increasingly maddening. Many have lost faith that any coaching staff can succeed given the failings of the front office. Now the offseason doesn’t come with the same enthusiasm of the past, especially after last year’s inactivity and the obvious consequences of it.
If this spring comes with the same penny-pinching, minimalist approach of 2024, which Stephen Jones has already hinted at, the spirit of Cowboys Nation will only be more trampled on by next September. Comings and goings on the coaching staff and roster, which are typically overblown during the news-starved NFL offseason, won’t be met with the same fervor.
Still, we’ve seen teams win it all without having the most talent. The “lightning in a bottle” seasons do happen. We saw one not long ago with the 2017 Eagles, who brought home the franchise’s only Super Bowl trophy with Nick Foles at quarterback. Sometimes, it’s just having the right mix of players, coaches, and good fortune to make a special one-year run. You won’t be a dynasty like the current Chiefs or past Patriots that way, but plenty of one-season wonders have won championships during their times on top.
See, there I go again with the hopium. We all do it, even the more objective and pragmatic of fans. The enduring belief that “this is our year” is what keeps us coming back for more punishment. The wheels fell off the Cowboys’ bandwagon a long time ago and yet here so many of us still are, watching the team exemplify the definition of insanity and perhaps being even crazier for our enduring fandom.
But this is what we do. We’ll be in our feelings for a bit until the first bit of offseason news to react to. This year, it will come fast with Mike McCarthy and other coaches either needing to be re-signed or replaced. Then will come the lull before roster moves, and by then we’ll be ready to scratch that football itch again.
So while the 2024 season has finally come to a merciful end, we can only wait and see if the misery dies with it. How much does or doesn’t change with the Cowboys’ coaching staff and roster will now be our fodder, and ultimately we won’t know until at least nine months from now just how good or bad those choices will be. But like the loyal fans we are, we’ll spend the offseason getting ready to get hurt again.
Or, maybe 2025 actually is our year? We don’t know.
We hope so.
