It’s been 27 years since the Cowboys’ last NFC championship. Much has changed. This hasn’t

It’s been 27 years and 15 days since the Dallas Cowboys last played in the NFC Championship game.

On Jan. 14, 1996, the Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, 38-27. Two weeks later, the Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-28 in Super Bowl XXX to claim their third Super Bowl in four years.

While the world has evolved in the past 9,877 days, there’s one constant: The Cowboys are still trying to get back to the NFC title game and that elusive Super Bowl appearance.

So, let’s take a trip down memory lane to a time when Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith and Michael Irvin dominated the national sports headlines.

What else was happening?

▪ Nintendo 64 was released.

▪ A gallon of gas cost $1.22.

▪ Jason Kidd was in his second NBA season, four years before Mark Cuban would purchase the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million (they are worth $3.3 billion today).

▪ Dean Palmer would hit 38 home runs for the Texas Rangers in the summer of 1996; the Rangers would lose to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.

▪ The average house sold for $105,482 in Fort Worth.

▪ A dozen eggs were $1.11, a loaf of bread 88 cents and a half gallon of milk $1.56.

▪ Bill Clinton was beginning his fourth year of his first team as president. He was already involved with intern Monica Lewinsky, but the details would not come out until 1997.

▪ George W. Bush was the governor of Texas.

▪ A Big Mac cost $2.25

▪ “One Sweet Day,” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men was the No. 1 song in the country.

▪ Bill Gates wrote the essay, “Content is King,” which was published on the Microsoft website. He said, “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the internet, just as it was in broadcasting.”

▪ The first iPhone would not be released for another 11 years; Facebook would not start for another eight.

▪ Neither of this season’s competing NFC Conference championship quarterbacks were born yet: Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts (born Aug. 7, 1998) and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (Dec. 27, 1999).

▪ Oh, and the last time the Cowboys won the NFC Championship, Jerry Jones was 53 years old and had owned the franchise for six years, 11 months, and was headed to his third Super Bowl in four years. They haven’t been back since.

▪ Meanwhile, the Mavericks have been to the NBA Western Conference Finals four times, the Dallas Stars have advanced to the NHL Western Conference Finals five times and the Texas Rangers have advanced to the American League Championship Series twice.