Does Mike McCarthy - After Cowboys 'Picked Wrong Day to Have Bad Day' - Deserve One More Chance?
It was all laid out nicely for the Dallas Cowboys to make a deep playoff run. They were at home, against an inexperienced team, and had all available players healthy - but none of that mattered.
But the Cowboys had their soul taken by the Green Bay Packers in a 48-32 loss as Mike McCarthy's team was beaten in every facet of the game. In truth, Dallas never looked like it was capable of reeling in the Packers, as Jordan Love, who had a passer rating of 157.2, did as he pleased.
It was a big opportunity squandered by Dallas.
“This is a hurtful loss,” McCarthy said. “We put ourselves in a position to play a home playoff game, we had a great opportunity. We felt good about the week of preparation, we thought we matched up well.
"We clearly picked the wrong day to have a bad day.''
That is an interesting way to phrase it. It could be interpreted as the coach saying this was a sort of "fluke.'' And if one believes that, maybe McCarthy doesn't get fired by Jerry Jones for it. ... while also at the same time not getting an extension as he enters his final contractual year, which would seem like a reward.
The truth: Dallas' day wasn't just "bad." It was catastrophic and could have far-reaching repercussions.
And a "fluke''? This would mark three straight years of postseason "flukes.''
One repercussion is what happens regarding McCarthy as head coach going forward. All week in the lead-up to the game, there were question marks surrounding "Big Mike" if the Cowboys lost.
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Our own Mike Fisher jokingly stated it would need to be a 50-0 loss for that even to be a question. Well, the 48-32 loss will feel like that for fans, and now attention turns to what owner Jerry Jones will/won't do. (Jerry, for now, is biting his tongue. See below.)
As for the intense heat that will come on McCarthy and his position, he isn't interested in that talk right now.
“We’re disappointed, I got a whole team in the locker room that’s hurting," McCarthy said. "I haven’t thought past the outcome of this game.”
It will be a brutal postmortem for the Cowboys as they dissect what went wrong when everything seemingly was going in their favor.
Another 12-win season, Dak Prescott had one of his best years, and CeeDee Lamb breaking franchise records were all good and fun, but the bigger target was a Super Bowl.
Unfortunately, when push came to shove, the Cowboys, as they have shown over the course of the last couple of seasons, disintegrated mentally just as fans were starting to believe that this could be the year things change.
To the offseason, we go. ... with a central question being: Does Mike McCarthy get one more chance?
