One day after the current edition of the Dallas Cowboys nearly removed the 1985 squad from the team record book for biggest margin of defeat, it seems relevant to remember a few things about the season Dallas lost to the Super Bowl-shuffling Chicago Bears 44-0. The biggest, perhaps, is that team made the playoffs, anyway.

The ‘85 Cowboys not only got swamped by Chicago at Texas Stadium in November, they also lost at Cincinnati, 50-24. They closed the season with a 31-16 loss to the 49ers. The ‘85 team was capable of some really bad football (sound familiar?) and yet still slumped into the playoffs with a 10-6 record.

This was the first year I spent any time covering the team and some of us thought Tom Landry almost worthy of Coach of the Year recognition, given how he had taken a team so capable of being awful into the postseason. When the Rams eliminated Dallas 20-0 with Eric Dickerson rushing for a playoff record 248 yards (it still stands), we more or less gave up on that idea about Landry.

But it was the 20th consecutive winning season for Dallas. Tony Dorsett had rushed for 1,300 yards. Tony Hill was an 1,100-yard receiver. Even after the Rams loss, Cowboys GM Tex Schramm said, “I can’t wait to get back to being arrogant.” None of us knew that he never would, at least not for any Cowboys’ achievements.

The ‘85 team marked the beginning of the dismal end. Dorsett would be relegated to a supporting role for Herschel Walker (a massive failure), Hill was about done, Danny White was closer than we knew and Dallas would have losing records the next three years. Bum Bright would sell the team in the ‘89 offseason, and, oh, does everyone know the rest of that story.

Fast forward to today. The Cowboys are 3-3, a game out of first in the NFC East. They keep telling themselves — head coach, quarterback and all the rest — that they are close, that there are lots of games left to play, that they need only to cut out the mistakes and get on the same page. Stare at the standings long enough and I understand how people convince themselves the Cowboys are still relevant in this chase.

They are not.

When a team has absolutely no edge on its opponents at home, it’s a problem. Opposing teams suddenly love coming to AT&T Stadium. They know they will have plenty of fans. On Sunday, chants of “Jar-ed Goff” filled the stadium in the second half. Eagles fans will be here in abundance for the next home game Nov. 10 and, oh my, Houston comes in next on Nov. 18. The last time the Texans came to town with a good team in 2014, Tony Romo had to go to a silent count because of the noise.

You can think about the players Dallas should get back after the bye week — Daron Bland at corner, probably Micah Parsons on the edge, maybe Eric Kendricks at linebacker, certainly not DeMarcus Lawrence — and figure the defense will tighten up a bit. Is that going to be enough? This is a defense that ranks 24th in the league overall and 25th against the run. They’re 21st in takeaways (28th in turnover margin) and Dan Quinn isn’t coming through that door. Only the Rams and Carolina have a worse point differential than the Cowboys in the entire NFC.

Is that the look of a playoff-bound team?

Does Dak Prescott really have what it takes to elevate a mediocre team into something more? He’s got the worst passer rating of his career right now (85.5), and I realize passer rating does not tell the entire story. At least that’s what you say when Gardner Minshew and Andy Dalton have better numbers than Dak.

Modern Cowboys fans do not boo the way they once booed Don Meredith in the Cotton Bowl. They are too busy looking up to see if they made it on the big screen which overrides all else at AT&T Stadium. But there was a reasonable amount of booing an offense Sunday that managed only two field-goal drives on its own (KaVontae Turpin did ALL the work on the other one), and it seemed like more than a little was directed toward CeeDee Lamb when he appeared to disengage from Dak. He even walked off the field after a third- down misfire once, not paying enough attention to notice that the Cowboys were going for it on fourth down (and failing).

It’s hard to connect what we just watched with getting to the playoffs. Dallas’ next two games are at San Francisco and Atlanta. If you give the Cowboys a split (overly generous), they are 4-4. Then the Eagles and Texans come where Dallas hasn’t competed all year — at home. Give them another generous split and they are 5-5 on the road to Washington to face the best offense in the division.

Unlike the ‘85 squad, I’m not sure this one has the stomach for surviving bad losses and securing enough wins to reach the playoffs. But the closing of a window? The beginning of the end? Given the roster mismanagement, the lack of focus of key players and a coaching staff hanging by the thread of last-year contracts, you can begin to see all of what we missed back in ‘85.

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