Time For Dallas Cowboys To Pass Red, White And Blue To 49ers, Eagles, Bengals Or Chiefs

The NFL needs to anoint somebody else as America’s Team, and here’s my suggestion regarding the process: League officials should make their preliminary choice from the Final Four this postseason of the San Francisco 49ers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Better yet, America should choice one of them.

Now about those other guys: Yep, the Dallas Cowboys, the inventors of that America’s Team thing. They’ve flaunted that title along the way to ranking atop the Forbes’ list in NFL team evaluations at $8 billion.

Even so, the Cowboys haven’t been within a Troy Aikman, an Emmitt Smith or a Michael Irvin of resembling America’s Team in years.

Actually, decades.

Nearly three, to be exact.

Who knew that since the so-called Triplets (see above) took the Cowboys to their fifth Super Bowl title after the 1995 regular season that the franchise would spend the aftermath fluctuating between operating as a tease and a bust — right through collapsing earlier this month during the NFL divisional playoffs in San Francisco against the 49ers?

Refresh my memory, but how many interceptions did Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott throw in the clutch during that 49ers game (2)? Oh, and what was the NFL record signing bonus ($66 million) he received from the Cowboys in March 2021 to sit well (41st) among those on the Forbes’ 2022 list for the world’s highest-paid athletes earnings ($39.4 million)?

Speaking of Prescott, this America Team’s thing began with a quarterback, so it should continue with one.

The original one was Roger Staubach, known as “Roger The Dodger,” “Captain Comeback” and “Captain America,” of course. During his NFL career from 1969 through 1979 with the Cowboys, he reached six Pro Bowls, won four NFL passer rating titles, grabbed league MVP honors and inspired the America’s Team thing by winning two Super Bowls.

Having a dynamic quarterback with the ability to snag multiple Super Bowls is huge regarding this America’s Team thing.

Which brings us to Patrick Mahomes, the charismatic leader of the Chiefs. He took them to a Lombardi Trophy after the 2019 regular season. Not only that, but during each of the five years he has started for the team, he has made the Pro Bowl. He’s also the main reason they’ve played in the AFC title game five straight years.

Even though none of the other quarterbacks in the Final Four own Super Bowl rings, they have their pluses.

The 2022 Eagles were the NFL’s most complete team offensively (second) and defensively (third) with much help from the passing and the running wizardry of Jalen Hurts. He’s among the top contenders for the league MVP award.

Then there is Brock Purdy, taken last by the 49ers during the 2022 NFL Draft out of Iowa State to become Mr. Irrelevant. Now he’s playing out of his mind after he went from afterthought to starter in early December following injuries to Trey Lance and then Jimmy Garoppolo.

Neither Hurts nor Purdy is Mahomes.

They also aren’t Joe Burrow. He’s only in his second year as a starter for the Bengals, but he has reached the AFC title game both times, including a trip to the Super Bowl last season. He’s the combination of two other Joes. He’s Joe Namath in style during the playoffs, right down to his fur coats and brash talk. He’s Joe Montana in his ability to spread calm to those around him during tense moments on and off the field.

It’s just that the Bengals own the bottom spot out of 32 teams in Forbes’ NFL team evaluations at $3 billion, and Cincinnati’s metropolitan area is only 2.2 million folks. The Chiefs are No. 23 at $3.7 billion in those same evaluations, and Kansas City’s metropolitan area is the same as that of Cincinnati.

For the Bengals and the Chiefs, those aren’t strong foundations to become America’s Team. In contrast, the Eagles are 10th on Forbes’ list at $4.9 billion, and Philadelphia has a metropolitan population of 6.1 million. That’s about 1.5 million less than that of Dallas, which means all of this is worthy of another discussion.

Regarding this one, let’s stick with the quarterbacks.

Advantage, Mahomes.