Jerry Jones postgame quote, Adam Schefter report prove Mike McCarthy is dead man walking
By Jerry Trotta
A chaotic offseason awaits the Dallas Cowboys after they crashed out of the playoffs on Wild Card Weekend for the second time in three years under Mike McCarthy. Questions loom about Dak Prescott's 2024 cap hit, but McCarthy will seemingly be the first domino to fall.
All eyes are on Jerry Jones and whether he'll keep McCarthy as head coach. While the Jones family has supported McCarthy publicly and internally throughout his tenure, Sunday's loss, which might be the worst in franchise history all things considered, might have been the horse that broke McCarthy's back.
The Fox broadcast captured a disgusted Jones turning his back on the Cowboys after they fell down 20-0 in the second quarter. Later in the game, Jones was seen slamming a piece of paper and uttering a quick sentence to convey his frustration as the team trailed 41-16 in the third quarter.
Jones hasn't made any rash decisions, but his summation of the loss suggests McCarthy's days as head coach are numbered.
A "floored" Jones called the loss the most surprising defeat since he's been involved in sports and the "most painful" because of the expectations for this iteration of the team.
Jerry Jones called this Cowboys’ loss is one of his biggest surprises since I’ve been involved in sports. “I’m floored.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 15, 2024
Jerry Jones postgame quote, Adam Schefter report prove Mike McCarthy's job is in danger
That quote doesn't bode well for McCarthy. It's an unfortunate state of affairs, but can you really blame Jones if he pulls the plug? Three 12-win seasons and two NFC East titles notwithstanding, McCarthy has yet to take the Cowboys to the elusive NFC Championship Game in four years on the job.
Jones gave very cookie-cutter answers to the media. He bypassed questions about McCarthy's future, and said he plans to meet with him on Monday to review the team's performance, prep for the upcoming week and dismiss the team before the offseason, which promises to be a whirlwind.
Any speculation that Jones will retain McCarthy as head coach skidded to a halt when ESPN's Adam Schefter chimed in after the game with a report that strongly hints McCarthy has run his race with the Cowboys.
Throughout this season, sources believed Cowboys’ HC Mike McCarthy always would be judged by how Dallas’ last game of the season went.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 15, 2024
Schefter's intel aligns with what various reporters have foreshadowed for weeks: that McCarthy's future would hinge on how the Cowboys performed in the playoffs. Given that Dallas was pounded into submission at home by a 9-8 Packers team and the team -- players, coaches and all -- did everything in its power to make the loss as humiliating as possible and it's hard not to think Jones is contemplating making a change.
Credit to Jones for keeping a cool head in the immediate aftermath, but it's fairly easy to read between the lines here.
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