When push came to shove, the Dallas Cowboys were left with no other choice but to fire Matt Eberflus after arguably the worst defensive season in franchise history.
Jerry Jones hinted sporadically throughout the year that he would give Eberflus every chance to save his job, but consecutive awful outings in primetime pushed the 83-year-old over the edge.
While the Eberflus experiment was an abject disaster, he wasn't the only hire from last offseason that aged like milk. Special teams took a noticeable step back under Nick Sorensen after Dallas foolishly let former coordinator John "Bones" Fassel leave after it parted ways with Mike McCarthy.
For whatever reason, the Cowboys still believe that Sorensen is the man for the job, as executive vice president Stephen Jones announced that Sorensen will be back. Jones conceded that there's room for improvement, but that admission won't do much to calm fan frustration.
"We certainly want to be better there," Jones said. "We've got some good pieces with our returner, our punter, our kicker and our snapper. But usually when you get some good defensive players, those turn into pretty good special teams players too."
The Cowboys blew it by keeping special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen
Having to replace multiple coordinators in one offseason is never ideal, but it absolutely would have been warranted in Sorensen's case.
The Cowboys racked up 32 special teams penalties this season, which were the second-most in the NFL.
While debilitating, penalties were the least of their problems, as their coverage on kickoff returns was absolutely horrible. It got to a point where Cowboys fans wanted Brandon Aubrey to boot the ball out of the end zone so that opposing drives would start at the 35-yard line. More often than not, teams ran the ball out past the 40.
The inconsistencies culminated in a dreadful showing against the Lions on Dec. 4, when Tom Kennedy returned three kicks for 141 yards (40.1 yards per return), and Jacob Saylors returned five kicks for 141 yards (28.2 yards per return).
It was effectively a must-win game for Dallas' playoff hopes, and Sorensen's unit routinely put the defense up against a short field.
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Beyond the penalties and return coverage, KaVontae Turpin, who somehow was a second-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler, had a bad year returning kicks.
According to Pro Football Focus, 72 players logged at least 15 kickoff returns this season, and Turpin’s 26.3 yards per return ranked 28th. He logged the third-most returns (77), meaning his production was driven more by volume than efficiency. Just one year earlier, Turpin ranked third out of 43 players at 35.4 yards per return.
The kickoff rules are the same as they were in 2024, yet Turpin averaged nearly 10 fewer yards per return this season.
Part of that falls on Turpin, who too often jogged after fielding kicks instead of sprinting, but his plummeting efficiency can’t be a coincidence. The Cowboys' special teams struggled across the board under Sorensen.
It is hard to justify that he kept his job.