McCarthy Mistake? How Can Jerry Jones Sell Lame-Duck to Unhappy Cowboys Fans?
In response to one of the one of the most shocking and disappointing ends to a season in the franchise's storied 64-year history, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Wednesday night turned Mike McCarthy into Jason Garrett.
By deciding to retain his head coach and make him work next season with no job security and on the final year his contract, Jones essentially is making McCarthy do what former head coach Jason Garrett twice did: Coach the Cowboys as a lame duck.
On the first occasion in 2014, the Cowboys went 12-4 and got within the infamous "Dez caught it" replay overturn of going to the NFC Championship Game. The second time Garrett's Cowboys started 3-0 but limped to an 8-8 record that cost him his job in 2019.
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Said Jones in a statement explaining his decision:
“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach. There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. ... Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals. Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue. ... While we’re all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100-percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals."
Jones' status woe will likely be met with surprise around the NFL and disappointment among a passionate fan base long frustrated by the team not winning two playoff games in the same postseason since 1995.
Since last Sunday's shocking, disheartening 48-32 upset loss to the Green Bay Packers, fans have clamored for McCarthy to be fired and replaced by the likes of Michigan's Jim Harbaugh or former New England Patriots legend Bill Belichick.
Said ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky this week: "This coaching cycle - with Belichick and Jim Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel and maybe Ben Johnson - is world class. If you run it back with Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott ... don't tell me you're serious about winning the Super Bowl because you're not."
Choosing "Status Woe" seems risky, even given McCarthy's regular-season success.
The NFL's winningest team of losers since the Buffalo Bills lost four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s, the Cowboys are the first team in league history to have three straight 12-win seasons without making it to a conference championship game. They have won 36 games and two division titles since 2021, but only one playoff game.
With the jarring blowout loss to the Packers, for the second time in three years they are the only home team to lose on Super Wild Card Weekend. The loss - in which the Cowboys looked woefully unprepared and glaringly outcoached - snapped a 16-game home winning streak.
In bringing back McCarthy, Jones is asking Cowboys fans to buy a ticket to the same movie, with the same plot, starring the same actors ... and somehow emotionally invest in hoping for a different ending.
McCarthy's return likely signals that the Cowboys will sign quarterback Dak Prescott to lucrative new contract. He'll throw passes to receiver CeeDee Lamb and Dallas will rely on stars like Micah Parsons and DaRon Lamb to again create pressure and turnovers on defense.
It's an uber-patient decision for the 81-year-old Jones, who in the past made rash decisions to divorce Jimmy Johnson after winning consecutive Super Bowls, fire Chan Gailey after consecutive playoff seasons and can Wade Phillips only 10 months removed from a playoff victory and in the middle of a season sabotaged by a Tony Romo injury.
"He’s been amazing," Prescott said of McCarthy after last week's disappointment. "This team has had the success that they’ve had because of him. I understand it’s about winning the Super Bowl. That’s the standard of this league and damn sure the standard of this place, so I get it, but add me to the list in that case.”
