Like every Cowboys fan, Kelly Clarkson has had enough of the team’s ongoing struggles.
“We must win. We will win. Win is the name of the game.”
Those were the famous words of a then 46-year-old Arkansas oilman named Jerry Jones, who spoke that exact line in 1989 during his introductory press conference after purchasing the Dallas Cowboys for $140 million.
For a brief, joy-filled period, Jones was prophetic. But since their strong, multi-year honeymoon period, the playoff wins have evaporated for the Cowboys. The words of affirmation have remained though, for 30 years, going from being inspirational to irritating for the fanbase.
The feeling of coming up short every year has left fans frustrated, including three-time Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, and TV personality Kelly Clarkson, who, via Us Weekly Celebrity and Entertainment Magazine, spoke on the owners influence that has led to the constant disappointments year after year.
“I just read something with my sister and I guess Jerry Jones had said, ‘Well, now is the time,” Clarkson said on the Thursday, March 27 episode of the “Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce” podcast. “And I was like, ‘Oh, Ok. It was different from the last ‘now’s the time.’ Very different from last year’s time, which was also the time.”
Under Jones’ direction, the Cowboys have always been in the spotlight and are arguably the most talked-about team in the league. While the organization carries nearly 20 million social followers worldwide and, at over $10 billion, is the most valuable sports franchise in the world, the hall of fame owner has also planted a target on his team that has made them among the most hated in sports.
“Our team is probably one of the most hated,” Clarkson told Kelce, 33. “Because I also think, too, we’re always so hopeful. I don’t think there’s been more dreamers since the ‘90s. Every year is our year.”
Kylie Kelce, who is the wife of former Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro and future Hall of Fame Center Jason Kelce, shared how much negativity is expressed about the Cowboys.
“I will tell you that I have a bond with Giants fans for some reason,” Kylie said. “It’s often Giants fans [who] meet my husband and they immediately have truth serum and say, ‘I have to be honest, I’m a Giants fan.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, everyone has their flaws, but we can agree, ‘F*** the Cowboys.’”
It didn’t take long for those original “We will win” words to become a reality. In his fourth season as owner and general manager, Jones, alongside legendary head coach Jimmy Johnson, his former national championship-winning teammate at Arkansas, rebuilt the Cowboys back into their winning ways. The team would capture back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1992 and 1993.
In an instant, everything changed. Years after his famous winning quote, Jones made another statement that would significantly impact the Cowboys’ franchise: “500 coaches could coach the Cowboys.” This infamous remark further strained the already rocky relationship between Jones and Johnson, ultimately leading to the hall of famers departure after the 1993 season, following the Cowboys’ back-to-back championship victories.
While the team won a third title in the 90s under Johnson’s replacement, Barry Switzer, fast-forward 30 years, and the once proud “America’s Team” has yet to reach an NFC title game, much less a Super Bowl. Since Johnson’s exit, the Cowboys have had eight different head coaches. While the organization has had its moments of feeling that this might be the year they get it done, time after time, the results have been bitter and disappointing.
Now heading into the 2025 season, the frustration and impatience of the fans is now being tested more than ever. After the firing of Mike McCarthy who was the teams head coach the past five seasons, Jones handed the keys to his offensive coordinator the last two years in Brian Schottenheimer over names like Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. The decison to make Schottenheimer the 10th head coach in team history and the ninth under Jones was met with intense scruitny from fans, analysts, and even team legend and the NFL’s all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith.
“I’m gonna start off by saying this: you gotta give everybody a chance to prove that they’re great head coaches and capable of leading the team to where it needs to go,” Smith, 55, said of Schottenheimer. “However, I have to wait and see the direction that he’s going to take the organization and if he has the ability to take the organization in the direction that I think it should go. We have gotten so far away from the character of who we are. We need to go back to the fundamentals of who we are as an organization. That’s how we’re going to get back to our winning ways. If that doesn’t happen, we’re going to be sorry for a long time.”
Only time will tell regarding the recent decisions made by Jones, but for now, Cowboys fans don’t seem to be filled with hope.
