‘Ranking’ Mike McCarthy: Cowboys Coach ‘Super Bowl-Worthy’? FISH PODCAST
FRISCO - What is the difference between "patience'' and "passivity''? And why are the Dallas Cowboys, in their decision to retain coach Mike McCarthy, being accused of the latter ...
While the four teams in this weekend's NFL Championship Games being praised for the former?
McCarthy has been in Dallas for four years, and based on Cowboys Nation's standards, he's "failed'' in a sense because three straight 12-5 seasons haven't ended with a Super Bowl win.
I get that. I we also wonder what the Ravens, the Niners, the Chiefs and the Lions - this Sunday's four finalists, each one step from the Super Bowl - did with their head coach in order for them to advance in this way.
Have the Ravens, the Niners, the Chiefs and the Lions been "passive''? Or "patient''?
Let's go to Baltimore. John Harbaugh has been there for 15 years, with 11 winning seasons. His 2012 team won a Super Bowl. But the Ravens have not been to the Super Bowl since. Entering this year, they have not been to an AFC Championship Game since.
In the last 10 years before 2023, they'd made the playoffs five times - with a record of 2-5. ... sort of like what McCarthy's done here.
If "patience'' is for loser owners who don't care about winning ... Why didn't the Ravens fire Harbaugh?
Let's go to San Francisco. Entering 2022, Kyle Shanahan had been there for six years. He started 6-10 and 4-12 in his first two years. Why didn't they fire him then?
The Niners have lost two NFC title games and they've lost a Super Bowl, which was five (long?) years ago.
If winning a Super Bowl NOW is all that matters ... Why didn't the Niners fire Shanahan?
Let's go to Detroit. Obviously, the Dan Campbell situation is somewhat different. This is his first head-coaching gig and just his third season. He did start 3-13-1, but the rise has been steady.
So let's take a different angle: Assuming the Lions lose this week at San Francisco, how much rope does Campbell get in 2024 and beyond? Is his a four-year window, like some think McCarthy's should've been? A five-year window?
At what point will a turnaround not be enough ... leading to the Lions firing Campbell?
Let's go to Kansas City. Andy Reid has been there since 2013, and in recent years he's had incredible success. But it took him six years until he got to the Super Bowl, and during that time he achieved only one AFC title game, which he lost.
If McCarthy's four years without a Super Bowl is "too long'' and "too patient'' ... Why after six years didn't the Chiefs fire Reid?
Want one more bite of this?
Let's go to Green Bay. Matt LaFleur has been there five years now. He started as a 13-game winner for three straight years! (Sound familiar, Cowboys fans thinking of McCarthy?) But couldn't advance beyond the two NFC title games even though he had MVP Aaron Rodgers! (Sound familiar, Packers fans thinking of McCarthy?)
And even those title games were accomplished "with McCarthy's players,'' right? (Sound familiar, Cowboys fans with their Jimmy Johnson/Barry Switzer takes?)
Before this year, LaFleur's playoff record was 2-3 - the EXACT same playoff record McCarthy has in Dallas.
If LaFleur is less successful than McCarthy ... Why haven't the Packers fired LaFleur?
As we discuss in the Fish Podcast below ...
I'm not making the argument that McCarthy is "better'' or "worse'' than Coach X; that's subjective. I'm just dealing in facts here. If Jerry Jones' management of the Cowboys head coaching setup is "lazy'' and "a sign he doesn't care'' and "passive,'' then we must say the same things about the process that led these four teams into NFL championship Sunday.
Or, if we are to applaud the Ravens, Niners, Lions and Chiefs for their "steady-handed patience''? Then, fairly and logically - whether we "like'' or "dislike'' a coach or a decision about him - we must do the same for McCarthy and the Cowboys.
