Detroit, Atlanta, Minnesota, Washington and San Francisco are the six teams that haven't made it to the Super Bowl in these last 10 years.
So if we're going just on good omens, and saying one of these teams will be in Indianapolis next year, I certainly don't think the Cowboys are atop the list to make it. They'd be close but Atlanta seems ready to make that jump.
I'm a believer in coincidence but not usually if something happens 10 straight times. I think there is reason for so much inconsistency in the NFC. If you look at all of those teams and the quarterbacks that have played, there aren't many great ones on that list.
The best quarterbacks are at the end. Kurt Warner has retired now, Drew Brees has many great years to come so the Saints have a good shot to get back there and I don't see Aaron Rodgers and the Packers going anywhere.
So maybe this 10-year streak will end pretty soon. But if Matt Hasselbeck, Rex Grossman, Donovan McNabb, Jake Delhomme, Brad Johnson and Eli Manning can get their teams in the big game, there is no reason why Tony Romo cannot.
Now, he needs to play well of course - just like those other quarterbacks did in their respective seasons.
But it goes so far beyond that. It's a model of success and it starts with in-house consistency.
Don't change coaches every four years looking for the next Jimmy Johnson. And with that, don't change the assistant coaches too often either.
When you keep a consistent coaching mindset, then it becomes easier to draft in April.
And maybe that's something that needs to be addressed. Maybe coaches should have more input in the players that are picked.
Yeah, drafting best available player sounds great. You draft the player, you grade them and you take them.
Well, that doesn't always work if he's not a good fit for your scheme. Then again, if you keep changing assistants all the times, then how do you know what the scheme really is.
It comes back to consistency at the top.
Get a coach, get great young assistants around him. Draft well and then get free agents that fit your scheme.
So when the Packers lose 15 guys to injured reserve, they can stick in a guy like James Starks or Erik Walden and not miss a beat. They did it again in the Super Bowl when Charles Woodson and Donald Driver went down.
Same with Pittsburgh, who even won three of four games without their leader in Ben Roethlisberger.
The Cowboys lose players to injuries and they suffer. It's not so much the players that are here but the system that was in place.
Maybe Jason Garrett is the right man to start this thing back in the right direction again. Only time will tell.
But if the Cowboys needed any further examples of how to get it done, they were right here this week and Sunday night.
Hope everyone was paying attention.
