Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones surprised much of the football world on Wednesday when he confirmed that head coach Mike McCarthy would return to Big D for a fifth season.
Many expected McCarthy to receive his pink slip following the Cowboys’ humiliating 48-32 home loss to the underdog Green Bay Packers on Super Wild Card Weekend. The loss dropped McCarthy to 1-3 in the postseason as the Cowboys’ head coach, a major letdown considering his team has gone 36-15 in the regular season since 2021.
But the ultra-patient Jones has decided to bring back McCarthy, who has one year remaining on the five-year pact he signed in 2020.
Speaking to reporters after his latest vote of confidence from Jones, McCarthy provided some details on his meeting with the 81-year-old Cowboys owner, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk:
“It was a long meeting, I think we went probably a little past three hours, we talked about a number of topics, the first topic was obviously the disappointment of the ending of the season. One team played to their standard and the other didn’t. Unfortunately, we didn’t. So I’m very disappointed in our performance, just not playing to our standard”
McCarthy’s regular season success with the Cowboys speaks for itself. Prior to his arrival, Dallas hadn’t recorded three straight 12-win seasons since the 1992 to ’95 campaigns, when they won three Super Bowls over a four-year span.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
But McCarthy wasn’t brought in to deliver only regular season success. Jones hoped that the offensive guru and Super Bowl-winning head coach would bring Dallas its first Super Bowl championship since the 1995 season.
So far, nowhere close. And thus, no cigar.
But something is telling Jones that McCarthy is the guy who can get them over the championship hump once and for all in 2024.
