Dallas Cowboys' Opening Day Win Streak (NFL Record)

The Cowboys’ first five years in the NFL were nothing to brag about. They compiled a dismal 18–46–4 record. But that began to change in 1965 when they beat the New York Giants 31–2 in the opening game of the season and had their first non-losing season, finishing with a 7–7 record.

That win against the Giants began a streak of seventeen opening-day wins. The streak ended on Sept. 13, 1982, when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 36–28. They won their opener for the next four years in a row, making it 21 out of 22 wins on opening day.

If that’s not impressive enough, many of these games were blowouts: 1965 Dallas 31 New York 2, 1966 Dallas 52 New York 7, 1968 Dallas 59 Detroit 13, 1969 Dallas 24 St. Louis 3, 1972 Dallas 28 Philadelphia 6, 1974 Dallas 24 Atlanta 0, 1976 Dallas 27 Philadelphia 7, 1978 Dallas 38 Baltimore 0, 1985 Dallas 44 Washington 14.

The seventeen-game opening-day win streak ended in 1982, and no one has come close to matching it since. The Miami Dolphins came closest, winning eleven in a row from 1992 to 2002.

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Mark Morthier is the host of Yesterday’s Sports, a podcast dedicated to reliving memorable sports moments from his childhood days and beyond. He grew up in New Jersey just across from New York City, so many of his episodes revolve around the great sport’s teams of the 70s for the New York area.

He is also an author of No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training (Second Edition): A Guide for People with Limited Time and Running Wild: (Growing Up in the 1970s)