It used to be fun to mock the Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones. Heck, even their own fans love to get in on the act. It was easy to laugh at the organization’s expense when they were a winning franchise, but that’s no longer the case.

Despite there being less successful teams around the league, the Cowboys have now become the laughingstock of the NFL. They’re still America’s Team, but that’s because most football fans in America love to poke fun at the Cowboys, not root for them.

For Cowboys Nation, it’s not as fun to be a fan anymore. It’s been 29 years since the Cowboys have won the Super Bowl and they haven’t sniffed a title since. During that time, 13 different teams have been crowned champions while Dallas hasn’t even made the conference title game, and are now the only NFC team that’s failed to appear.

How did it come to this?

It’s all changed, but it didn’t happen overnight. Sure, the Cowboys struggled and were a bad team when Jones hired legendary coach Bill Parcells to turn it around in 2003. But at the time, it had only been seven years since their last title and there wasn’t any shame in being the Cowboys. That was a hire out of desperation, not embarrassment; Jones needed to get a new stadium built and the best way to do it was to show promise in the franchise once again.

Things got better with Parcells, but the mocking began on his watch. The dropped snap from breakout star quarterback Tony Romo kickstarted the downward spiral where it became en vogue to make fun of the Cowboys. Those laughs at Dallas’ expense got louder the following season when the team earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC but got ousted by the New York Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The dropped snap kicked off a 19-year streak where nothing has seemed to go the Cowboys’ way. Disappointing and embarrassing playoff losses have haunted the franchise, as well as some back luck.

• The Cowboys have been the No. 1 seed in the NFC twice in the last 19 seasons, yet they failed to win a playoff game each time.
• They are the only No. 2 seed to lose to the No. 7 seed since the postseason expanded.
• Have just a 3-4 record in home playoff games.
• Lost the ‘Dez caught it’ game. However, OPOY DeMarco Murray fumbled the ball on a breakaway run, on a drive that would have put the team up 11 points in the third quarter.
• Lost on a miracle play from Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, just two snaps after he somehow held onto the ball during a Jeff Heath sack.
• Dak Prescott ruins the team’s chances of a comeback win against the San Francisco 49ers when he scrambles for a second too long and the clock runs out.

Some of those losses might have been forgotten if the team had won a few of the other playoff games. But that hasn’t been the case. Not one time in the last 19 years have the Cowboys managed to luck their way into an NFC Championship Game appearance.

Their failures might not seem as bad if people were still reading about these games in the paper or talking about them at the water cooler, but that’s changed as well.

Social media has significantly changed how easy it is to poke fun at a team and their fans. And in the last 10 years, it’s been effortless to mock the Cowboys. Each year that brings a new misstep allows another opportunity to mercilessly laugh at Jones’ organization.

Yet, as bad as it was for Cowboys fans, it still wasn’t as bad as it’s gotten in the last two years. In that time, the two teams that had longer conference title game droughts both made it to the final four.

The sad sack Detroit Lions made the NFC title game in 2023, and the rival Washington Commanders broke the longest streak, 33 years, on Sunday. The Commanders’ playoff run is what’s set off the new additional mocking of the Cowboys. Dallas didn’t even play this past weekend, but they continue to get embarrassed.

Having the Commanders in the NFC title game and leaving the Cowboys as the odd man out has made things even worse. It’s not much fun to be a fan of the Cowboys these days. Instead, it’s frustrating, infuriating, and sad. And there isn’t much hope on the horizon with how ownership runs the franchise.

This is who the Cowboys are these days, a punching bag for the rest of the league, and it’s understandable because they’re an easy target. No one is laughing with the Cowboys anymore, they’re laughing at them.