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Mike McCarthy survives, to remain Cowboys head coach

Jerry Jones: 'I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals'

frank schwab
NFL writer
·2 min read
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Mike McCarthy's past three regular seasons with the Dallas Cowboys all finished with a 12-5 record. That's impressive. The Cowboys' past three postseason trips all ended the same, too, with an exit before the conference championship game. That's not impressive.

Yet McCarthy will get a shot to run it back for the 2024 season, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced Wednesday. ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the news before Jones' confirmation.

The Cowboys' stunning 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round didn't cost McCarthy his head-coaching job in Dallas, as he will remain in his post for a fifth season. McCarthy is 42-25 as Cowboys head coach.

The Cowboys won 12 games, the NFC East and the No. 2 seed in the NFC, yet those accomplishments are hitched to another first-round playoff exit, which wasn't good enough in many Cowboys fans' eyes. But the only pair of eyes that ultimately matter belong to Jones, who is doubling down on better for his Cowboys — with McCarthy.

Via statement, Jones said:

"The lens we use to view Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we're all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals."

Jones has the reputation of an impatient team owner, but he hasn't lived up to that in many years. He stuck by Jason Garrett longer than most Cowboys fans would have. And he's doing the same with McCarthy. Before Garrett's dismissal after the 2019 season, the last coach Jones fired was Wade Phillips during the 2010 season.

Jones is showing patience after the debacle against the Packers. Dallas came in as the favorite and was down 27-0 late in the second quarter. It was a stunning loss, which Jones called "one of my [biggest] surprises since I’ve been involved in sport." He said after the game that he hadn't thought about McCarthy's future, but he would've been the only one who watched that loss and didn't wonder what would come next.

Every time the Cowboys lose a playoff game, their fans want the coach fired. But this loss felt different. Dallas looked unprepared. The Cowboys were totally flat at home, where they were 8-0 during the regular season. All playoff losses are disappointments, but this was a massive letdown.

The Cowboys still haven't been past the divisional round of the playoffs since the 1995 season. Yet Jones is sticking with McCarthy.