Meanwhile, the Cowboys, one of the most successful NFC teams in the 1970s with five Super Bowl appearances and two wins, never made it back to the Super Bowl in the 1980s. In the following season, the Cowboys reached their third straight NFC Championship Game, where they were defeated 31–17 by their archrival Washington Redskins. This ended a remarkable period that saw the Cowboys play in 10 of 13 conference championship games, while Danny White, who had become Dallas' starting quarterback in 1980, drew criticism for "not being able to win the big game," despite leading the team to successful winning seasons. The Cowboys managed to make the playoffs in the 1983 and 1985 seasons, only to be knocked out in their first game (; ), then failed to reach the postseason for the rest of the decade. In fact, beginning in 1986, the Cowboys went on to suffer losing seasons for the remainder of the eighties, leading to head coach Tom Landry being fired by new owner Jerry Jones after the 1988 season.