The 1968 Dallas Cowboys season was their ninth in the National Football League (NFL) and won the Capitol division by five games with a 12–2 record (tied with 1977 for the best record in the Landry era). In the first round of the playoffs, Dallas met the Cleveland Browns (10–4) in the Eastern Conference title game, held at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. In this era, the host sites were rotated, home field advantage was not adopted for the playoffs until 1975. Dallas had won the regular season game 28–7 in September, and had routed the Browns 52–14 in the previous year's playoffs, but both were played at the Cotton Bowl.

The Browns upset the favored Cowboys 31–20,^[1][2][3] sending Dallas to the third place Playoff Bowl at the Orange Bowl in Miami,^[4] where they rallied to defeat the Minnesota Vikings, 17–13.^[5][6]

The team averaged 30.8 points per game during the regular season, and holds the record for most points scored through the first three games of a season.^[7]