The Dallas Cowboys are no stranger to pressure.
When you win five Super Bowls - especially three in the span of four years - you're rewarded with expectations to be at that elite level for years to come ... even if those years have passed.
Pressure is passed along year after year. Pressure can make or break individual careers and legacies. It transcends evolutions of the sport and defines eras for teams based on their success in response of it.
The Cowboys haven't made the conference championship game, let alone a Super Bowl, in almost 30 years. To make it back to that stage? There's a lot of pressure.
Although the Jones family has established one of the most valuable brands in sports, the weight still follows.
In fact, that "value" amplifies the pressure.
The game of football requires a full team effort every Sunday, but only one position has the opportunity to potentially influence the game and turn this pressure into victory: the starting quarterback.
There aren't many quarterbacks in the NFL facing more pressure to win - and win now - than Cowboys' QB Dak Prescott.
The 2025 season will mark Prescott's 10th year of service to The Star. He has had MVP-level performances, devastating ends of seasons, and everything in between as the leader of the Cowboys
One thing is consistent with Prescott's career: he has had very little playoff success while in Dallas.
In his quest to bring the team back to that elite stage, he is just 2-5 in the playoffs with, of course, zero conference championship or Super Bowl appearances.
Now gearing up for a new season, while recovering from last year's season-ending hamstring injury, Prescott is being tabbed one of the quarterbacks under the most pressure to win a Super Bowl, according to CBS Sports' Jeff Kerr.
"Prescott is 2-5 in his postseason career, tied for the worst postseason record for any quarterback who has made a minimum of five playoff starts. He still hasn't made a conference championship game in his 10 seasons in the league, despite quarterbacking a team that has won 12+ games in four of the five times he has made the postseason," Kerr said.
"Prescott is turning 32 this year. The clock is ticking on him delivering a championship to Dallas, no matter how good or bad the roster is around him."
Related: WATCH Cowboys QB Dak Prescott New Workout Video Going Viral
There are still a lot of improvements that need to be made for this Cowboys roster to be ready to end their championship drought. Many of those fixings need to be handled accordingly this offseason by the front office.
For Prescott, a lot is weighing on these remaining years of his NFL-record contract that pays him an average salary of $60 million.
The pressure? We're sure Dak has heard about it as many times as that number on his contract.
But heading into his 10th season in the NFL, he's running out of time to prove people wrong and bring the Cowboys back to glory like so many expect him to do.
And that may rank him at No. 1 in this category.
Fun note: Prescott was just three years old the last time Dallas made it to the NFC title game ... so not all those years of drought are his fault.
Related: Cowboys Given Record-Setting Odds For 2025
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This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 10:03 AM.
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