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Michael Irvin has never been shy about discussing winning and championships. During his decade-plus career with the Dallas Cowboys, he won three Super Bowls and earned five Pro Bowl selections. Yet, when he reflects on his career, he doesn’t believe he has fully accomplished everything he set out to do. In fact, Irvin recently revealed that his goal was always to win at least five Super Bowls.

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“I love champion mindset because nowadays it seems like it’s different. Like, it’s not about winning championships,” Irvin said on the recent episode of Champion Mindset. “All I knew about winning championships. I won three Super Bowls, and crying about I should have won five. I live in hell thinking about I should have won two more.”

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Irvin made his first Super Bowl appearance against the Buffalo Bills during the 1992 season with Troy Aikman running the offense and Jimmy Johnson leading the Cowboys. He caught 6 receptions for 114 yards and scored two touchdowns, as the Cowboys defeated the Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. A year later, Irvin found himself on the same stage and against the same opponent.

He helped Dallas defeat Buffalo 30-13 once again, as he caught 5 receptions for 66 yards. While the Cowboys didn’t make the Super Bowl in the 1994 season, they returned to the big game in the 1995 season. Only this time, Jimmy Johnson had left, and Barry Switzer was leading the unit in his second season. Irvin, meanwhile, had another great performance, as he recorded 5 receptions for 76 yards, as the Cowboys won 27-17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Since then, Dallas has yet to return to the NFC Championship Game, and Irvin retired following the 1999 season. Still, back in 2015, he admitted that the Cowboys had a legitimate chance to win five Super Bowls had Jimmy Johnson remained with the organization.

“When Troy (Hall-of-Fame quarterback Troy Aikman) and I get together we look at each other — and I’m telling you there’s not a time we don’t get together (and say) ‘We should’ve at least had five ourselves,” he said. “We should’ve won five. We should’ve at least walked away with a minimum of five Super Bowls.

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“That’s a minimum I really do believe that. You look back on it now, and if I had the sense I have now … if I had it then … we certainly would have won five Super Bowls. It just works out that way. It still gets to me, man. I’m telling you. It really does.”

Jimmy left the Cowboys before the 1994 season after his views on personnel decisions no longer aligned with Jerry Jones. And while Michael Irvin went on to build a Hall of Fame career in Dallas, finishing with nearly 12,000 receiving yards and 65 touchdowns, it’s clear the Cowboys legend still feels there were two more Super Bowls left on the table.

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Keshav Pareek

2,369 Articles

Keshav Pareek is a Senior NFL Features Writer at EssentiallySports, where he has covered two action-packed football seasons. He also contributes to the ES Behind the Scenes series, spotlighting the lives of top NFL stars off the field. Keshav is known for weaving humor into serious sports writing and connecting with readers by tapping into the emotional heart of the game. He’s particularly fascinated by the NFL Draft’s “Green Room” drama and remains puzzled by Shedeur Sanders’ unexpected draft slide, an outcome he calls downright baffling. With a fresh wave of breakout talent on the horizon, Keshav is primed for another thrilling season. A lifelong NFL fan, Keshav closely follows quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, drawing inspiration from their leadership and playmaking ability in his coverage. He brings a mix of sharp analysis and narrative storytelling to every story, providing readers with a compelling view of the league both on and off the field.

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Antra Koul

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