After Another Disappointing Playoff Loss, Dallas Cowboys’ Head Coach Mike McCarthy’s Future Up In The Air

By Jordan Long

The Dallas Cowboys earned a playoff spot this season for the 3rd year in a row, but Dallas lost to Green Bay 48-32 in the Wild Card round.  With the loss, the biggest question mark is if Head Coach Mike McCarthy will be back coaching the Cowboys next season.

McCarthy has been the Cowboys’ Head Coach since the 2020 season.  The Cowboys posted a 6-10 record missing the playoffs in his first season.  After that McCarthy coached them to 3 straight 12-5 records.  Dallas won the NFC East Division in 2021 and 2023. 

            Dallas though has not had playoff success.  In 2021 they were beaten in the Wild Card round by the San Francisco 49ers by the final score of 23-17.   2022 Dallas advanced to the Divisional Round but lost to San Francisco 19-12.

            This season, the Cowboys had high expectations. They anticipated a long playoff run.  Dallas finished 12-5, winning the NFC East Division and the #2 seed in the NFC playoffs.  This meant they would have home field advantage until the NFC Championship Game assuming the San Francisco 49ers advanced as well.

            Sunday the Cowboys played poorly in the first half, being outscored 27-7.  It looked like a blowout.  Dallas tried to come back in the second half, scoring 25 points and limiting Green Bay to 21.  It didn’t matter.  It was too little too late, falling 48-32.

            Dallas now has question marks at the coaching position. They have not made it to the NFC Championship Game since 1995 which is also the same year of their last Super Bowl victory.

            According to ESPN.com, McCarthy said, “I haven’t thought one second about it. I know how hard, how much it meant to our fans to advance. What this loss to me means, again, not how [or] why, who didn’t do what, all of that type of thing — the only thing on my mind almost this entire game was not an analysis of our strategy, not an analysis of our play, it was, ‘Do we get to play here again next week?’ And we can’t. That could have happened by a point or it could have happened the way it happened out there. That’s all I’ve thought about. It’s real.”

            McCarthy has been a great regular season coach for Dallas. His record is 42-25, or a winning percentage of .627.  The problem is the playoffs.  He has failed to get them to a Super Bowl.

            Owner Jerry Jones may decide to move on from McCarthy. There are a few coaches who make sense. If Jones wants a Super Bowl winning coach, then hire Bill Belichick.  The problem with Belichick is how many more years would he like to coach.  He doesn’t have anything left to prove with 6 Super Bowl rings.  He will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame at some point.  The only thing driving him is the most NFL wins by a coach.  He stands at 302, third most in NFL history. Don Shula has the most at 328 or 26 more wins than Belichick.

It is possible Jones could look at someone he is familiar with, Kellen Moore.  Moore is the offensive coordinator for the L.A. Chargers.  He was the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys from 2019 to 2022.  Jones could go in house and hire Cowboy’s defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

            Of course, the Cowboys might stay the course with McCarthy.  McCarthy has one more year left on his contract.  It could be their best option.  Jones will take his time from this disappointing loss to figure out the future of McCarthy.

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