Dallas Cowboys fans slowly lost confidence as the team faded into the Wild Card Round

Optimism from Cowboys fans was waning.

As the Dallas Cowboys were preparing for their playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers last week all of us had hope. How could we not?

Find a fan who picks their team to lose their respective playoff game. The one you do will be the first. When it comes time for the tournament everybody involved believes they have a shot because that is the magic of the playoffs.

Looking back though (hindsight is certainly helpful), the Cowboys were obviously falling apart in certain ways as the postseason drew closer. Their offense had nice outings against subpar division rivals, but ultimately they were barely hanging on and that all showed up in the Wildcard Round.

As you can see oddsmakers themselves began to really lose confidence in the Cowboys near the end of the regular season, but what is particularly notable is that they never really picked up more confidence as it came to a close. Looking at the Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you can see that all of those units instilled belief in people where the Cowboys kept floundering around. (For the latest odds on the teams still in the playoffs, check out DraftKings Sportsbook).

You are likely well-aware that Cowboys fans are rather upset with the team following their playoff exit and as a result were not kind to the organization in this week’s SB Nation Reacts results. Fan confidence has absolutely cratered and many months of standing around and doing nothing is likely not going to help.

Part of what has made Cowboys fans feel let down has been the team’s response to their loss. Coaches and players blamed officiating and doubled down on that in certain ways as the dust continued to settle. Nobody can truly get better until they take a long and hard look in the mirror at who they really are and it doesn’t seem like this team is in any place to do that right now.

For the time being the Cowboys will unfortunately continue to be meme’d into oblivion for their drought continuing on another year. Consider that when this next season begins that it will mark the 30-year anniversary of the 1992 team and the beginning of the dynasty that this team continues to make its mark off of.

That is three decades. That is a lot of time to find a mirror.

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