Mike McCarthy's past three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys ended with a 12-5 record. This is impressive. The Cowboys' last three postseason trips have ended the same way as well, bowing out before the conference championship game. This is not impressive.
However, McCarthy will get a chance to bring him back for the 2024 season, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced Wednesday. ESPN's Adam Schefter The news was first reported before Jones was confirmed.
The Cowboys' stunning 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild card round did not cost McCarthy his head coaching job in Dallas as he will remain in the position for a fifth season. McCarthy is 42-25 as Cowboys coach.
The Cowboys won 12 games, in the NFC East and had the No. 2 seed in the NFC, yet those accomplishments were tied with another first-round exit, which wasn't good enough in the eyes of many Cowboys fans. But the only eyes that matter in the end belong to Jones, who is redoubling his efforts to provide the best for the Cowboys — along with McCarthy.
Jones said in a statement:
“The lens we use to view Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we are all disappointed with Sunday's result and with our playoff record, I support him 100 percent as our head coach and our ability to achieve our goals.”
Jerry Jones on retaining Mike McCarthy as Cowboys coach: “While we are all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I support him 100 percent as our head coach and our ability to achieve our goals.”
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– Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) January 18, 2024
Jones has a reputation as an impatient team owner, but he hasn't lived up to that in many years. He's stuck with Jason Garrett longer than most Cowboys fans would. He does the same with McCarthy. Before Garrett was fired after the 2019 season, the last coach Jones fired was Wade Phillips during the 2010 season.
Jones shows patience after loss to Packers. Dallas came out as the favorite and trailed 27-0 late in the second quarter. It was a stunning loss, which Jones described as “one of my losses.” [biggest] “Surprises since I've been in the sport.” He said after the game that he hadn't thought about McCarthy's future, but he was the only one who watched that loss and didn't wonder what would happen next.
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Every time the Cowboys lose a playoff game, their fans want the coach fired. I felt this loss differently. Dallas seemed unprepared. The Cowboys were completely flat at home, where they were 8-0 during the regular season. All playoff losses are disappointing, but this was a major one.
The Cowboys have not advanced beyond the divisional round of the playoffs since the 1995 season. Yet Jones is sticking by McCarthy.
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