No 'Nonsense - Super Bowl Is Cowboys Goal,' Says McCarthy
FRISCO - The concept of "Super Bowl or Bust'' is a goofy one, when you take it even semi-literally. What's "bust''? If the 2020 Dallas Cowboys fail to win a Super Bowl, are they folding up the franchise? Moving it to Europe? If Jerry Jones selling it?
If "Super Bowl or Bust'' was real, it would've "busted'' Dallas sometime in the last quarter-century, if you know what I mean.
So there is no "bust.'' But to new Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, there is "Super Bowl.''
"I think conversation like that, frankly, respectfully, is nonsense," McCarthy said when asked about Super Bowl-or-bust expectations. "If you're not trying to win the Super Bowl, I don't know what you're even doing in this business.''
McCarthy can speak from experience. His 2010 Green Bay Packers team won Super Bowl XLV. And in his 13 seasons, they made the playoffs nine times, with four trips to the NFC Championship Game.
No, the Packers didn't "bust'' when they fell short - just as the Cowboys, who haven't won a Super Bowl or even played in a conference title game since 1995 - haven't "busted.''
The Cowboys in the quarter-century have won just four postseason games. Still, no "bust.''
But still, annual talk about "how great Dallas is going to be this year.''
That sort of talk resonates around this 2020 team, too. Part of it is Jones' optimistic salesmanship. Part of it is "America's Team'' hype. And part of it is that Jones' front office has often assembled talented rosters - and that includes this one.
But none of it - none of the talk - scares McCarthy. In fact, he took a subtle shot at any of his colleagues who are unwilling to state the goal.
"I think that (goal is) what every team starts their offseason with,'' he said. "The ones that don't want to talk about it, they're probably just trying to 'Underpromise and Overachieve.' But I've always been very upfront about it with every team I've ever coached: We're in this to win a championship. Make no bones about it."
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McCarthy, by the way, believes the Cowboys as an organization have managed well dealing with a training camp in a COVID-19 world - and won't be using any of those challenges as excuses for falling short.
"We're all in a pandemic,'' McCarthy said of the NFL. "Every coach is coaching in this training camp environment. The players are doing a great job with the COVID challenge, and it's going to be a long, long year, and it's going to be a huge challenge to get that championship. That's the reality of it. But at the end of the day ... we've got a lot of work to do."
