DALLAS — I remember once when Jerry Jones was defending himself against the belief he didn’t properly recognize the importance of head coaches that he swore the Cowboys franchise was so esteemed he could always have the best head coach available.
It was probably during the transition from Jimmy Johnson to Barry Switzer.
If that alone didn’t disprove Jones’ claim, perhaps what is happening now does. Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has four games remaining on his expiring contract, six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick was available and Jones never even interviewed him.
Not last offseason.
Not this year before Belichick, feeling forced to choose between coaching in college or risk being passed over in another NFL hiring cycle, decided to become a college head coach for the first time in his career. His decision to accept the North Carolina job should provide McCarthy a sense of relief, and it seemed to have exactly that effect when he was asked at his news conference.
“Wow, that’s great,’’ McCarthy said. “That’s a beautiful place. No, I’m serious. I think it’s cool, I really do. Coaching is coaching. I’ll say one thing, they’ll be someone to be reckoned with. I have a lot of respect for Bill and the job that he’s always done. He was always very difficult to compete against. … Congratulations to him. I’m happy for him.”
For those like Troy Aikman, who expressed the opinion that McCarthy should not be replaced by anyone other than Belichick, it seems like a victory for McCarthy in a season where there have not been nearly enough of them.
In his 18 full seasons with the Packers and Cowboys, McCarthy has never had a team finish worse than 6-10. His current team is 5-8, so McCarthy needs to win at least two of the remaining four games to avoid compiling the worst record of his career and having it occur in a season where Jones forced him to work the final year of his contract.
The fact the Cowboys apparently did not demonstrate interest in Belichick — at least not enough to prevent him from taking a college job – would logically increase the potential of McCarthy eventually receiving a contract extension to remain the Cowboys coach.
There have definitely been positive assessments of McCarthy’s performance coming from the front office recently, as if determining public opinion on that option. There are a number of other candidates. Mike Vrabel is a former head coach of the Titans known for having teams that are mentally and physically tough and defined by overachieving – none of which describes the Cowboys.
Philadelphia offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has a long history with the Cowboys as both a former quarterback and assistant coach. That’s important because the Jones family values familiarity. He would also be popular with former teammate Dak Prescott. It’s also possible that Moore would be content with retaining Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator if Jones wanted to do that as he has so often during three decades of ownership. Maybe he would be willing to have Jason Witten on his staff.
After the Cowboys’ disastrous loss Monday night to the Bengals, Jones was asked about the prospect of McCarthy returning.
"Well, let me just say this quickly, and Mike is an outstanding coach,’’ Jones said. “He has an outstanding record. He's got great experience. A lot of what he's about, some of the benefits that we're having out there, we're gaining from the type coach that he is. And so there's an old adage, when you start thinking about any coaches, you better give it a good look, because he's one of the most outstanding. So again, I've spoken to that about any consideration I'm having, but this was a hard one for him tonight. I'm sure.”
Dallas is a unique place to coach, and Jones reminded the football world of that before making himself available to reporters outside the losing locker room. Inside, he questioned special teams coach John Fassel about the sequence of events in the final minutes where the Cowboys blocked a punt, foolishly touched what became a live ball and lost on a Joe Burrow touchdown pass three plays later.
This has been a ridiculously difficult season for the Cowboys. Their failure has arguably been more a function of an incredible number of injuries combined with a weak roster than inadequate coaching expertise.
The Cowboys have 18 players on injured reserve, including eight starters. Prescott has had two seasons in his nine-year career conclude with him on injured reserve – McCarthy’s first season in Dallas and this one. In between, McCarthy’s teams won 12 games for three straight seasons.
In addition to losing his starting quarterback, McCarthy lost Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Zack Martin, Brandin Cooks, Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland for multiple weeks or even most of the season.
“Injuries are the most unfortunate part of the game,” McCarthy said. “We all have them. You don’t go through this league, any season, without them. Some numbers are higher than others, and who and the timing of it is usually part of that big challenge. Yes, this is exceptionally high, and I think it’s just like anything, you just have to make sure you continue to look at everything. Talking to the trainers about it every day, strength and conditioning things: What can we do differently maybe in the offseason? You’re always trying to find a better way in your training regimen. That’s the way you have to do it here. This is an unusually high year.”
Of course, Jones reminded everyone weeks ago that the team had won only three games with Prescott in the starting lineup. That seemed to suggest the evaluation of McCarthy would not be modified to take injuries into consideration.
My sense from knowing McCarthy is that he’s not terribly concerned about his future. He is confident in what he can do and what he has done. He’s likely more concerned about his assistant coaches, especially the younger members with children.
It’s also worth noting that McCarthy could have other options as well since his contract runs out as soon as the Cowboys complete their season at home against Washington in Week 18.
His team has continued to compete hard through all the adversity. If there’s quit in them, it might be revealed these next few weeks. The loss to the Bengals was a game that McCarthy said they had to have just to maintain their small postseason hopes. There is also the emotional hangover from DeMarvion Overshown’s devastating knee injury.
If there is a holistic evaluation of McCarthy when the season is completed, Jones is sure to remember the embarrassing and historic losses at home, where the Cowboys this season are 1-6 — their most losses since 2015.
The Cowboys currently lead the NFL with 17 turnovers in home games this season. Also, they have committed a league-high seven turnovers in the red zone.
The fact that McCarthy is the offensive playcaller probably spared his job last offseason; now it could further jeopardize him.
Just like his final two seasons in Green Bay, McCarthy hasn’t won close games or defeated opponents with winning records for most of his five seasons in Dallas.
But Jones should be mindful that finding adequate replacements could prove difficult. I know people close to Belichick questioned whether he would even take the Cowboys’ job because of the huge number of distractions that exist – that is the bane of his coaching existence. People close to him also questioned the logic of making Prescott the highest-paid player in the game and the limitations that places on building a championship roster.
The Cowboys are an NFL-worst 1-3 in the postseason under McCarthy, and the only victory was against the 8-9 Buccaneers. So, even their playoff victory seems tainted by the fact it came against an opponent with a losing record.
There are two active NFC coaches who have won Super Bowls. McCarthy is one of them. There are seven active head coaches in the entire league with Super Bowl rings. McCarthy is among them.
If Jones retains McCarthy, that will be difficult to explain under the circumstances. If Jones was unwilling to commit to McCarthy after the team won 12 games and made the playoffs three consecutive seasons and explained that there hasn’t been enough postseason success, how does he justify doing it after this season without a playoff appearance?
McCarthy is a Super Bowl-winning coach who is liked by his players and, despite their playoff struggles, he's coached the Cowboys to their best three-year run, by far, since their last Super Bowl era 30 years ago.
Jones was asked this week about the difficult decision that awaits him at the conclusion of this very bad season, maybe the worst of McCarthy’s career.
“I don't weigh those things as far as tough or the degree of making them," Jones said. "I always in my role make those decisions, they all have a lot of gravity to them. Any of those kinds of decisions regarding coach coaching, staff players, all of those things, I don't want to call them tough. They're just very serious, impactful decisions."
And if the owner who has long believed his franchise can have the best there is in coaching decides to hire a head coach for the ninth time since purchasing the team in 1989, it won’t be Bill Belichick.
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