Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
60 free Dallas Cowboys trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
51 free Dallas Cowboys trivia questions with answers. Dallas Cowboys trivia for the fans who bleed silver and blue and the rivals who love to hate them. This quiz covers the whole franchise story: the 1960 expansion fight and the fight song that swung the vote, the Landry years and the Doomsday Defense, Roger Staubach's Hail Mary, the Herschel Walker trade that built a dynasty, the Triplets and three titles in four years, and the Jerry Jones era through Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons. It also covers the stuff every fan should know cold: why there is a hole in the roof at Texas Stadium, how the Thanksgiving tradition started, who was the first name in the Ring of Honor, which numbers are unofficially retired, and the only Super Bowl MVP from a losing team. Questions run from easy to expert and every one is labelled by difficulty. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and the primary sources it cites, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in which year?
1960
There had been no NFL team south of Washington since the Dallas Texans folded after one season in 1952.
Q 02Before settling on 'Cowboys', the new Dallas franchise was first known by which two names?
Steers, then Rangers
The final name was announced on March 19, 1960 to avoid confusion with the Dallas Rangers baseball team.
Q 03Clint Murchison Jr. secured George Preston Marshall's expansion vote by buying the rights to what?
The Redskins' fight song
Bandleader Barnee Breeskin sold him 'Hail to the Redskins'; Murchison sold it back in exchange for the lone holdout vote.
Q 04Who was the Cowboys' first head coach, holding the job for 29 seasons?
Tom Landry
His 29 straight years with one team is an NFL record, and he pioneered the 4-3 and 'flex' defenses.
Q 05The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record how many consecutive winning seasons, from 1966 to 1985?
20
In that stretch they missed the playoffs only twice, in 1974 and 1984.
Q 06Which item of clothing was the first head coach's trademark on the sideline?
A fedora
Homer Simpson buys the hat in an episode of The Simpsons to improve his leadership skills.
Q 07Chuck Howley is the only Super Bowl MVP from a losing team. Which opponent beat Dallas 16-13 that day?
The Baltimore Colts
The Colts won 16-13 on Jim O'Brien's field goal with five seconds left.
Q 08The Cowboys won their first championship in Super Bowl VI, beating Miami by what score?
24-3
It was the first major pro sports title for any Dallas team, and Roger Staubach was named MVP.
Q 09Roger Staubach won the 1963 Heisman Trophy playing for which school?
Navy
He served a tour in Vietnam before joining the Cowboys in 1969, and later built a real estate firm he sold for $613 million.
Q 10Staubach's game-winning 1975 playoff pass to Drew Pearson gave football which lasting phrase?
Hail Mary
The devout Catholic said afterward, 'I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary'; the Vikings lost 17-14.
Q 11Which of these was NOT one of Roger Staubach's nicknames?
The Sheriff
He retired in 1980 with the highest career passer rating in NFL history at the time, 83.4.
Q 12Which NFL Films editor coined the nickname 'America's Team' after the loss in Super Bowl XIII?
Bob Ryan
Rival fans have mocked the label ever since, but it stuck through good times and bad.
Q 13Texas Stadium's famous opening overhead was the result of what?
Abandoned retractable-roof plans
Linebacker D. D. Lewis said the hole was there 'so God can watch His favorite team play'.
Q 21Dwight Clark's 'The Catch' ended the Cowboys' 1981 season with a 28-27 win for which team?
The San Francisco 49ers
Joe Montana's 14-play, 89-yard drive is seen as the end of Dallas's era of dominance and the start of San Francisco's.
Q 22Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys from Bum Bright on February 25, 1989, for roughly how much?
$140 million
Forbes now values the team at about $13 billion, the most valuable sports franchise in the world.
Q 23Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson were college teammates on which national championship team?
1964 Arkansas
Jones co-captained the Razorbacks as an offensive lineman under Frank Broyles.
Q 14Texas Stadium was located in which Dallas suburb?
Irving
It opened in 1971, hosted the team for 38 seasons and was imploded on April 11, 2010.
Q 15The Cowboys' home in Arlington, opened in 2009, is widely nicknamed what?
Jerry World
It seats 80,000 but can hold over 100,000 with standing room; a 2009 crowd of 105,121 set the NFL regular-season record.
Q 16In which season did the Cowboys first host an NFL Thanksgiving Day game, starting a tradition?
1966
GM Tex Schramm agreed to a second holiday game alongside Detroit's, and later secured a guaranteed slot; since 1997 the halftime show has kicked off the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign.
Q 17Which defensive tackle, 'Mr. Cowboy', was the franchise's first draft pick and first Ring of Honor name?
Bob Lilly
Dallas traded for Cleveland's 13th overall pick in 1961 to take the TCU star; his name went up on Bob Lilly Day in 1975.
Q 18What was the nickname of the Cowboys' dominant defensive units of the late 1960s and 1970s?
The Doomsday Defense
Randy 'The Manster' White and Ed 'Too Tall' Jones anchored the second version.
Q 19Super Bowl XII is the only Super Bowl to name two co-MVPs. Which two Cowboys defenders shared it?
Randy White and Harvey Martin
Voters wanted to honour the entire eleven-man defence after the 27-10 win over Denver, but the league said no.
Q 20Which 1976 Heisman winner did the Cowboys draft second overall in 1977?
Tony Dorsett
The Pittsburgh star was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and played 11 seasons in Dallas.
Q 24Jimmy Johnson came to Dallas in 1989 from the head coaching job at which university?
Miami
He became the first coach to win both a college national title and a Super Bowl, and later coached the Miami Dolphins.
Q 25The 1989 Herschel Walker trade, the largest in NFL history, sent him to which team?
The Minnesota Vikings
Once expanded to include San Diego, 18 players and picks changed hands; Dallas turned the haul into Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland and Darren Woodson.
Q 26What was the Cowboys' record in Jimmy Johnson's first season, 1989?
1-15
Three years later they went 13-3 and won Super Bowl XXVII.
Q 27Troy Aikman was drafted first overall in 1989 out of which school?
UCLA
He had transferred from Oklahoma; he later spent two decades as Fox's lead analyst alongside Joe Buck.
Q 28Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin were collectively known as what?
The Triplets
They led Dallas to three Super Bowl wins in four seasons and entered the Ring of Honor together in 2005.
Q 29Emmitt Smith retired as the NFL's all-time leading rusher with how many yards?
18,355
He passed Walter Payton in 2002 and also holds the career record with 164 rushing touchdowns.
Q 30In which season did Emmitt Smith uniquely win the Super Bowl, league MVP, rushing title and Super Bowl MVP?
1993
Dallas started that year 0-2 and became the first team to win a Super Bowl after such a start.