ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys will meet an old, familiar foe in the NFC Wild Card playoffs on Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium.
The Green Bay Packers.
Two of the most storied franchises in NFL history have had no shortage of epic postseason battles, dating back nearly 60 years. And ironically enough, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was responsible for a couple of those results when he coached the Packers.
This time around, the Cowboys are the clear favorite: Vegas has the spread at 7.5 points, in favor of Dallas. Green Bay struggled earlier in the season but first-year starting quarterback Jordan Love came on strong down the stretch and the Packers rallied to get in the tournament.
And so, as the scriptwriters might have it, we get another Packers-Cowboys matchup in January, for the ninth time in history.
Here's a look at the previous eight postseason matchups between the two teams:
January 1, 1967 - NFC Championship
Result: Green Bay 34, Dallas 27
The Cowboys very first playoff game in franchise history was a chance at history: A trip to the first Super Bowl. But the league still belonged to legendary coach Vince Lombardi and his Green Bay Packers.
The Cowboys had the advantage of playing at home at the Cotton Bowl. Back then, the NFL alternated the championship game site by even/odd years, with the Eastern Conference champions hosting on even-numbered years (the 1966 season, in this case).
Temperatures in Dallas were in the low 40s. That's only noted because of what would happen the next year when the two teams played in the subzero "Ice Bowl" at Green Bay.
Weather wasn't a concern in their first matchup in Dallas. The Packers' passing game was a concern for Dallas, though.
Bart Starr's four touchdown passes and 304 yards led Green Bay to the win. Dallas took a 21-20 lead in the third quarter, but two touchdown passes from Starr gave the Packers a comfortable lead. Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith hit Frank Clarke for a 68-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough.
Green Bay went on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs (formerly the Dallas Texans) in Super Bowl I, 35-10.
December 31, 1967 - NFC Championship
Result: Green Bay 21, Dallas 17
Two words: Ice Bowl.
The Cowboys-Packers matchup of 1967 is perhaps known more for the subzero temperatures on Lambeau Field's frozen tundra than the actual game. But the game was pretty epic, too.
Packers quarterback Bart Starr threw a pair of touchdown passes to put Green Bay ahead 14-0, but the Cowboys mounted a comeback, starting with George Andrie's fumble return for a touchdown, and then a 21-yard field goal from Danny Villanueva.
Lance Rentzel's 50-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter - from future NFL coaching legend Dan Reeves - put the Cowboys ahead 17-14, with 4:50 left in the game.
But Starr led the Packers back.
Green Bay got down to the goal line but was stuffed twice by the Dallas defense. On third down, Starr punched it in, taking the quarterback sneak for the game-winning touchdown.
"We had run out of ideas," Starr said about the game-winner, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's recounting of the game."
Said Packers coaching legend Vince Lombardi: "We gambled and we won."
Green Bay advanced to Super Bowl II, where they dismantled the Oakland Raiders for a third straight championship.
January 16, 1983 - NFC Divisional
Result: Dallas 37, Green Bay 26
The Cowboys, led by quarterback Danny White, were coming off a 30-17 win over the Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card. And the Packers, this time led by Starr as their head coach, had routed the Cardinals, 41-16.
But the NFC Divisional matchup was a game Dallas controlled by halftime. A pair of field goals from Rafael Septien, a two-yard rushing touchdown from Timmy Newsome, and a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown from Dennis Thurman gave the Cowboys a 20-7 lead at the break.
Dallas held Green Bay to a pair of field goals in the third quarter - and added one of their own - to lead 23-13. The Packers tried to get back into the game and nearly did, with a 71-yard touchdown run from James Lofton. The Cowboys responded with a touchdown to maintain a two-score lead.
The Packers got a pick-six of their own, from Mark Lee, but another Cowboys touchdown sealed the win.
Dallas met Washington in the NFC Championship Game but lost, 31-17.
January 16, 1994 - NFC Divisional
Result: Dallas 27, Green Bay 17
The defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys got their first playoff look at a gunslinging Brett Favre in the NFC Divisional round. The Packers were coming off a road win over Detroit in the Wild Card. But the Cowboys were a much different test.
Dallas jumped to a 17-3 lead by halftime, and then extended that lead to 24-3 in the third quarter, thanks to Troy Aikman's third touchdown pass of the game. Favre and the Packers tried to rally and scored a pair of touchdowns. But it was never much of a comeback.
Favre finished with 331 yards passing and two scores, but he also threw a pair of picks.
The Cowboys went on to beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, and then they blew out the Bills (again) to win a back-to-back Super Bowl title.
January 8, 1995 - NFC Divisional
Result: Dallas 35, Green Bay 9
1995 wouldn't bring another Super Bowl title back to Dallas, but the Cowboys sure looked like they were on their way to a three-peat after this one.
Dallas led 28-9 at halftime of a game that was never much of a contest. Aikman's 94-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper in the first quarter put Dallas up 14-3, and Green Bay never got any closer. A Blair Thomas touchdown run in the fourth quarter made the final score.
The Cowboys limited Favre to 211 yards passing and no touchdowns, while Aikman threw for 337 and a pair of scores.
Dallas' quest for a three-peat came to an end the next week against the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, which the Cowboys lost, 38-28.
January 14, 1996 - NFC Championship
Result: Dallas 38, Green Bay 27
The last run of the Cowboys' 1990s dynasty needed a comeback to keep it alive.
The Cowboys, coming off a blowout 40-15 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Wild Card, played host again to Favre and the Packers. And it was far from the blowout this time around.
The Cowboys led 24-17 at halftime, but a Packers field goal and a Favre touchdown pass to Robert Brooks put Green Bay ahead 27-24. But Aikman and the Cowboys ripped off a 14-play, 90-yard drive for a touchdown, capped by Emmitt Smith's five-yard run for the score.
Then the Dallas defense did their part. Larry Brown intercepted Favre and gave the Cowboys the ball with 9:59 left in the game.
Aikman hit Michael Irvin for a 36-yard pass to the Green Bay 16, then Smith scampered for a touchdown.
Favre and the Packers had a couple more tries but the Cowboys stopped them on fourth down both times.
Dallas clinched another Super Bowl appearance and went on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for their third title of the 90s and fifth overall.
January 11, 2015 - NFC Divisional
Result: Green Bay 26, Dallas 21
Dez caught it. The refs just disagreed.
That's how Cowboys Nation has been forced to cope with one of the more gut-wrenching losses in franchise history, especially over the last 25 years.
The 2014 Cowboys were NFC East division champs and coming off a home playoff win against the Detroit Lions when they made the trek to Lambeau Field for the divisional round. And despite the test in front of them, the Cowboys jumped out to a 14-10 halftime lead.
A Demarco Murray rushing touchdown in the third quarter extended Dallas' lead to 21-13, but Aaron Rodgers responded with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams and got the Packers within a point.
Another touchdown drive by Green Bay put them ahead 26-21 with 9:10 left in the game.
Then came the Dez catch/no-catch.
The Cowboys were driving into Green Bay territory but faced with 4th and 2, with 4:42 remaining. Instead of running the ball, Dallas decided to go deep. Romo hit a leaping Dez Bryant near the goal line, and Bryant appeared to come down with the catch as he tumbled into the end zone.
But Mike McCarthy, then the Packers coach, challenged the play.
The officials reviewed the catch but ruled that Bryant did not maintain possession of the ball as he went to the ground. Bryant had bobbled the ball as he came down with it, but it didn't appear to touch the ground and he ultimately maintained possession.
The Packers took over on downs and milked the clock to win the game.
To make the loss sting a bit more, the NFL a few years later clarified the league's catch rules, which would have made Bryant's catch a, well, catch against Green Bay.
Too little, too late.
January 15, 2017 - NFC Divisional
Result: Green Bay 34, Dallas 31
If the Dez catch/no catch loss was heartbreak, this was simply Aaron Rodgers haunting Dallas again.
The Cowboys had rolled through the regular season at 13-3, powered by rookie sensations Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. Yet none of it mattered when Rodgers and McCarthy strolled into AT&T Stadium, the site of their lone Super Bowl victory together six years earlier.
A Rodgers touchdown pass and a pair of rushing touchdowns from Ty Montgomery - a Dallas native, no less - put Green Bay up 21-3 in the second quarter. The Cowboys clawed back to 21-13 at halftime, before another Rodgers touchdown pass extended Green Bay's lead to two scores.
Dak and the Cowboys had some fight, though. Prescott's pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes tied the game at 28-28. The two teams exchanged field goals, so the Packers got the ball back with 35 seconds left in a 31-31 game.
Rodgers then did what he does.
With 12 seconds left and Green Bay sitting on its own 32-yard line, Rodgers hit Jared Cook for a 36-yard strike along the sideline. Mason Crosby came on for a 51-yard field goal attempt and made it for the win.
