Are Cowboys 'Way-Too-Early' 2025 Super Bowl Contenders - or 'Pretenders'?
FRISCO - Super Bowl LVIII is rapidly approaching. It's a bittersweet Sunday for many NFL fans whose own team fell short and don't have alliances to the Kansas City Chiefs or San Francisco 49ers.
While Patrick Mahomes hopes to defeat Brock Purdy's Niners to be crowned Super Bowl LVIII Champions in Las Vegas, Sports Illustrated decided to look ahead to the top 10 nonchampionship teams that have the best odds of playing in the Super Bowl in 2025.
The Dallas Cowboys make the list of contenders who could advance to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. Why?
"The Cowboys have long been called pretenders because of their many years of postseason disappointment," writes SI. "This time, they were crushed by the Packers at home during the wild-card round. And team owner Jerry Jones decided to run it back with coach Mike McCarthy."
McCarthy will enter the final year of his five-year deal with owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys with his future beyond 2024 up in the air. McCarthy arrived in Dallas in 2020 with the expectations that the Super Bowl-winning coach could get the Cowboys deep into the playoffs. With a loaded roster that oozes talent, McCarthy has yet to do so.
"The Cowboys always give themselves the best odds to advance, but it does them no good when the playoffs roll around, at least not in the past three decades. Many will yawn if the Cowboys win the NFC East and deliver another 12 wins in the regular season. Dak Prescott & Co. need to prove it in the playoffs," SI continued.
Surprisingly, the team at the top of the list is the Cincinnati Bengals, who finished fourth in the AFC North this season. The reasoning is that a healthy Joe Burrow gives the Bengals the best case for advancing to next year’s Super Bowl.
Next up for Dallas, watching the NFL Honors show to see how the four finalist Cowboys do - NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year finalist Dak Prescott, Offensive POY finalist CeeDee Lamb and Defensive POY finalists Micah Parsons and DaRon Bland.
The NFL Honors show is scheduled for Thursday night in Las Vegas during Super Bowl Week.
