NFL - Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Tennessee Titans - 08/20/2022

Michael Irvin says lifting of 'Jimmy Johnson Curse' cancels out Cowboys-Lions 'bad karma'

Updated Jan. 8, 2024 9:58 p.m. ET

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For those who believe in karma, the Dallas Cowboys are in danger — or are they? 

The Cowboys enter the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the NFC thanks in large part to a controversial call at the end of their Week 17 game against the Detroit Lions, who enter as the No. 3 seed. The Cowboys and Lions have the same 12-5 record, but only because a last-minute two-point conversion by Detroit in that game in Dallas was controversially overturned because of confusion over which Lions offensive lineman reported as an eligible receiver before the play.

The Lions and their fans insist Taylor Decker, who caught the ball in the end zone for a successful conversion on the play, reported as eligible, but the officiating crew ruled fellow offensive lineman Dan Skipper as eligible. The snafu prevented Detroit from finishing 13-4, which would have actually made the Lions the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC. 

Does that mean the Cowboys' comeuppance will happen again in January, just as it has at the hands of the now-top JFC seed San Francisco 49ers each of the past two postseasons?

Cowboys Hall of Fame wide receiver and "Undisputed" co-host Michael Irvin does not believe the controversial outcome of that game against the Lions will affect the Cowboys' playoff karma, because of something else that happened that night — the long-awaited induction of his former head coach and longtime "NFL on FOX" analyst Jimmy Johnson into the Cowboys' ring of honor.

The long delay of Johnson's entry into the team's ring of honor had birthed somewhat of a conspiracy theory among Cowboys fans — that it was a curse among the once-dynastic franchise preventing Dallas winning another championship. Though Dallas won the Super Bowl in 1995, nearly two years after Johnson's acrimonious departure from the team after leading it to two Super Bowl titles himself in the early 1990s, the Cowboys have not even reached the NFC Championship Game in the nearly 30 years since then.

The tension between Johnson and his longtime friend from the University of Arkansas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, thawed in recent years, allowing Johnson to finally be welcomed into the team's ring of honor at halftime of the Cowboys-Lions game with several of his former players, including Irvin, as well as his "FOX NFL Sunday" colleagues and close friends, in attendance. 

Several Cowboys fans now believe that the "curse" has been lifted now that Johnson has been inducted, and it sounds like Irvin is one of them. 

But that remains to be seen. The Cowboys begin their 2023-24 NFL playoff journey against their historic postseason rivals, the Green Bay Packers, at 4:30 ET Sunday on FOX and the FOX Sports App.

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