It has only been 22 games, to be clear. But right now Brian Schottenheimer is in some poor company. The company in question is as things relate to Dallas Cowboys franchise history.
Schottenheimer has led the team through a full season and five games of another, and in both instances he failed to win a majority of his first five games.
This isn’t an arbitrary mark chosen, to be clear. Stathead and Pro Football Reference only allow searching spans to begin a season that are at least five games in length,
and now that the Cowboys are through that point we can really measure Schottenheimer against those who came before him.
Here is every team in Dallas Cowboys franchise history to hold two or fewer wins through their first five games. This specific wording allows us to capture the tie from Week 5 last year.
The Cowboys have held two or fewer wins through five games a total of 24 times now. They made the playoffs only twice in the previous 23 instances. Not great.
What is interesting is if we consider the head coaches who, like Brian Schottenheimer, did this in consecutive seasons. It is quite (not really) the list.
Dallas Cowboys head coaches to lead the team to two or fewer wins through the first five games in consecutive seasons:
- Brian Schottenheimer
- Jason Garrett
- Dave Campo
- Jimmy Johnson
- Tom Landry
Again, apologies for the specific wording. 2-2-1 is not the same thing as 2-3, but I think we all agree that in an effective sense it is. Moving on.
Brian Schottenheimer is either going to be Jason Garrett or Dave Campo… or Jimmy Johnson or Tom Landry. Based on this at least.
Many will likely say that the reason the latter pair dealt with starts of this variety is because of the day and age they played in as well as the fact that when they each took over they did so when the franchise was at very low points. That is more than fair. Briain Schottenheimer hardly inherited an expansion team or one with the number one overall pick.
Things are taking on water in a very serious sense for the Cowboys right now and if Schottenheimer doesn’t sort them out then he really is going to be associated with names that people do not regard all too fondly.
Time is running out.
