Troy Aikman didn’t book offseason trip because he was so confident of a Cowboys NFC Championship berth

Troy Aikman learned the hard way not to trust his former team.

Aikman, the ESPN announcer and former Cowboys quarterback, had such confidence in Dallas reaching its first conference championship game since 1996 that he passed on a vacation this week, instead planning to be in San Francisco for the NFC Championship game.

“Shocked, yeah,” Aikman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of Dallas’ early exit, despite being the NFC’s No. 2 seed. “I really anticipated Dallas would be playing in the championship game and figured that it would be in San Francisco, so I was planning on going to the game. Didn’t book a vacation after my season. And so I really liked this team all year long. I thought they were really talented. It’s just the same old story, and I don’t mean that as a criticism.

“It’s just when I’m asked about the Cowboys as to why they have struggled: They’ve put together some really great regular seasons, and they just have not, for whatever reasons, played their best football when the games matter most. That’s what you have to do. And that’s the key to winning in the postseason and then getting to the Super Bowl.

“So what the answer to that is I’m not sure.”

Aikman, in his second season in ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth, does not have any more NFL games to call since Sunday’s championship games will be on CBS and Fox, respectively, and the Super Bowl will air on CBS.

He and his partner, Joe Buck, called their last game this past Saturday when the Ravens beat the Texans in Baltimore, which left them free this Sunday.

Aikman’s girlfriend Haley Clark shared photos of the two from Italy last offseason, though it’s unclear where Aikman planned to go this year.

Aikman had confidence the Cowboys would take care of the seventh-seeded Packers and the third-seeded Lions to return to their first NFC title game since he served as their quarterback.

But the Cowboys flopped, much like they are prone to do this time of year.

They had no answers during the Jan. 14, wild-card game against Jordan Love and the Packers, falling 48-32 in a contest that wasn’t as close as the final score may indicate.

Quarterback Dak Prescott had a rough game, throwing two interceptions, and there are growing questions about his ability to lead Dallas to the Super Bowl.

Aikman, however, still believes in Prescott despite the mounting playoff failures.

“I do know that we all draw on our past experiences, and when we don’t have great experiences, those then become hard to overcome,” Aikman told the outlet. “And I think that’s the challenge for Dak. The question for him and the team isn’t so much what happens in the regular season now. It’s how are they going to play and how is he going to play once you get into the postseason? That makes for a long year when that’s the way it works.

“But I still believe in Dak. Until you do it, there’s always those criticisms.”

Aikman also agreed with Jerry Jones sticking with coach Mike McCarthy for a fifth season.

“They had a solid year. They had a really good year,” Aikman told the Forth Worth Star-Telegam. “The way that they were playing at the end of the year, they positioned themselves to be the No. 2 seed. If you make a change, then you’re basically making a change for the same reason you made changes back a few years ago when you brought Mike in and you’re bringing in then somebody who you believe is going to get you over the top.

“You don’t know the answer to that until once again, you get back to January. … It just seems to make the most sense for those guys to come back and without a new contract. There’s obviously then some urgency on their part as well.”