Former Dallas Cowboys QB puts the fate of the team in 2026 on one player
He is an obscure part to the last dynasty of the Dallas Cowboys, a fact that unless you were there you may not know what Steve Beuerlein meant for the ascent of the franchise when it was actually winning playoff games rather than hoping to just make one.
In December of ‘91, Beuerlein came off the bench to fill in for injured starting quarterback Troy Aikman and led the Cowboys to an upset playoff win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on a brutally cold day on Lake Michigan. It was the Cowboys’ first playoff win since 1982.
“Thank you for bringing that up,” Beuerlein said in a recent interview with the Star-Telegram. “Every time I come back to Dallas, the true fans that were there during those years they remember, and they thank me, so I’m always grateful for that.”
Beuerlein is 61, looks great. He doesn’t look 61, and he’s made his own health a priority. As he’s grown older, he’s seen many of the teammates that he had during his 14-year NFL career struggle with age. Concussion and CTE-related symptoms are most frequently mentioned, but somewhere high in this conversation is heart disease.
Beuerlein is working to promote heart health, and has partnered with Heartflow, which uses AI technology and scans to detect if a person is vulnerable.
He also serves as a national radio NFL analyst; having played for the Cowboys for just two years, he does not qualify as a standard silver-and-blue homer.
Steve Beuerlein is buying the Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys start their summer OTAs on Thursday at The Star in Frisco, and this is the time of year when the team “thrives.” The disgust of the previous season has faded, and enough time has passed, along with a few new moves made, that it gives owner Jerry Jones something to sell to the masses.
That however many holes the team had in 2025 — which for the Cowboys equalled the sum of playing 76 rounds of golf — are magically filled just in time for the start of training camp.
Between a few trades, and the draft, that it will always be just enough to entice us to watch this sad soap opera once again. Even if we’re 99.9999999999999999 % sure we know how it ends.
Earned and justified cynicism aside, Beuerlein firmly believes that the Cowboys should be good. He’s not saying that “this time it will be different,” but that the team should be competitive.
“With what they’ve done this offseason I think they’re in better shape this year going into the next football season than they have been in a very long time,” he said. “It’s been a lot of defense-related issues, but truly, I think this year now with what is being built here with the issues they’ve addressed, if the Cowboys can stay healthy, they have every reason to expect they can compete with anybody.”
He said it. Steve Beuerlein, former NFL quarterback. He’s not related to any member of the Jones family, nor does he receive a check from a Jones.
He’s buying the Cowboys.
Because of their draft, and some other acquisitions they made on defense, as well as one other key figure.
(It’s one you’ve heard before)
Dak Prescott is the reason for the Cowboys to be optimistic
Don’t shoot the messenger. Emails are fine. The same for texts, DMs, letters, checks, cash, Venmo, and jelly donuts. Please nothing violent.
“They have every reason to expect they can compete with anybody,” Beuerlein said, “and it’s going to come down to Dak Prescott, which is what everybody wants now.”
They do?
Sure. Yes. Absolutely they do.
Prescott is 32, and preparing to enter his 11th season in the NFL, all as the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. He is coming off one of the best years of his career, and even he knew that no one could say he was a problem.
The defense was so atrocious it allowed the offense to skate.
“At this point in Dak’s career, who knows how many years he’s got left, but he’s obviously still playing at a high level. He has got to step up and really go into this season saying, ‘This is our chance; nobody can say that we’re not trying to get better defensively,’” Beuerlein said. “They brought back Javonte Williams; they’ve got two of the best receivers in the NFL. They’ve got production across the board offensively.
“This is a year where your quarterback has got to find a way to win those big games down the stretch and into the playoffs, put the team on his back and make the plays to win those playoff games.”
It’s June, and it sounds good, especially coming from a quarterback who played 14 seasons in the NFL.
It’s also the Dallas Cowboys, so buy at your own peril.
