Jimmy Johnson accomplished quite a bit in his short stint as the Dallas Cowboys head coach, helping the franchise achieve its most successful runs ever. The legendary coach helped build up a struggling team to the league’s best in just a few years at the helm.
Jimmy Johnson’s Storied Run With the Cowboys
Johnson took over as Dallas’ head coach in 1989, and the team was certainly in rough shape at the time.
The Cowboys had won a pair of Super Bowls in 1971 and 1977 during Tom Landry’s lengthy and successful time as head coach but tailed off toward the end of his tenure. They had plummeted to a pair of losing seasons in 1986 and 1987 before a brutal 3-13 showing in 1988 ultimately spelled the end of Landry’s time in Dallas.
On came Johnson, who had been head coach at the University of Miami for the previous five seasons.
Johnson undertook a tough project, and it showed in his first year leading the way as the Cowboys bottomed out in going a putrid 1-15. Some savvy moves by the front office and more time at the helm for Johnson, though, helped bring on growth over the next few seasons.
Dallas went 7-9 in Johnson’s second campaign at the helm, including a promising 4-2 finish to the season following a rough start. That bled over into 1991 as the Cowboys took another step forward in going 11-5, winning their first-round playoff game before falling in the Divisional Round to the Detroit Lions.
Those years set the stage for historic success in the 1992 and 1993 seasons as Johnson and the Cowboys won back-to-back Super Bowls.
MORE: PFN’s FREE NFL Playoff Predictor
The first came in Super Bowl 27 as Dallas rolled past the Buffalo Bills, 52-17, led by 273 passing yards and four touchdowns from star quarterback Troy Aikman, the game’s MVP. Emmitt Smith earned the game’s MVP honors a year later with 30 carries for 132 rushing yards and two touchdowns as the Cowboys again defeated Buffalo in the Big Game, this time by a 30-13 score.
However, Johnson’s time leading Dallas ended following those consecutive Super Bowl championships, as an argument with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones led to the pair parting ways.
The split ended Johnson’s uber-successful run in Dallas after just five years, though the franchise went on to win another Super Bowl two years later under Barry Switzer. Johnson returned to coaching as the Miami Dolphins’ head man after a two-year hiatus but did not win another championship in his four years with the franchise.
Still, Johnson’s run of winning two Super Bowls in just a five-year stretch was enough to earn him enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
That success will also finally result in him being inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor at halftime of Saturday’s game between Dallas and the Detroit Lions. It appears Jones and Johnson have mended their relationship enough to the point that Jones is willing to bestow the rare honor on one of the franchise’s most successful head coaches.
Want to predict the rest of the 2023 season with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? Looking for the most up-to-date NFL standings? What about a breakdown of team depth charts or the NFL schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with that and more!