Mike McCarthy is expected to stay on as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys amid speculation about his future following the team’s shocking wild-card upset to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday night that the 60-year-old, who just completed his fourth season in Dallas, will serve out the final year of his contract with the Cowboys during the 2024-25 season.
Schefter labeled the update as “not unusual” and added that Dallas also allowed its former head coach Jason Garrett to coach in 2019 in the final year of his deal.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who declined to comment on McCarthy’s future following the 48-32 home loss to Green Bay last weekend, said: “I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach.
“There is great upside in continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. Specifically, many successes have been achieved this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and without the team as a whole.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy began receiving increasing calls for his firing following a loss to Green Bay
“Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and, working with him, we will be committed to translating that into achieving our postseason goals.” Certainly, Mike’s career has shown post-season success at a high level, and we are very confident that this can continue.”
Referring to what was the only playoff game played in Dallas this year, Jones said, “Furthermore, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just coach McCarthy. Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am responsible for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. “While we are all disappointed with Sunday’s result and with no record in the playoffs, I support him 100 percent as our head coach and his ability to achieve our goals.”
The Cowboys (12-6) have three consecutive 12-win seasons and playoff trips in four years under McCarthy, hired after more than 12 seasons in Green Bay because of his penchant for getting the Packers deep into the playoffs.
Now Dallas is looking at 29 years since the franchise’s last trip to the NFC championship game. It was the 1995 season, when the Cowboys won their fifth Super Bowl championship.
The Cowboys clinched the NFC East title by overtaking freefall Philadelphia, the defending division and conference champion, in the final two weeks of the regular season.
Suddenly, Dallas had the opportunity to host a division game for the first time since that 1995 season after a wild-card victory, having ended the regular season on a 16-game home winning streak.
Instead, questions will abound, along with reminders that McCarthy and Prescott are entering the final years of their contracts.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones remained tight-lipped about McCarthy’s future after Sunday’s loss
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott insisted he would follow McCarthy from Dallas if the 60-year-old was fired by the organization
“I don’t know how that’s possible, but I understand things,” Prescott said when asked about the losing speculation about his 60-year-old coach’s future. ‘Then it must also be about me.
“I had the season I had because of him,” said Prescott, who threw two interceptions before three mostly empty touchdown passes as Dallas fell behind 48-16. “This team has had the success they’ve had because of him. I understand it’s about winning the Super Bowl. That’s the standard of this league and (damn) certainly the standard of this place. I understand that, but please put me on the list.’
It marks the second time in McCarthy’s three playoff seasons with Dallas that the Cowboys have lost their playoff opener at home. San Francisco beat them in the wild-card round two years ago.
Last year, Prescott had one of the best games of his career in a win over Tampa Bay, which ended up being Tom Brady’s last game before losing again to the Niners, this time on the road, in the divisional round.
Dallas is the first team to win at least 12 games in three consecutive playoff seasons and not advance to a conference title game once.
McCarthy took the Packers that far four times in nine postseason trips, reaching the Super Bowl once and beating Pittsburgh at the Cowboys’ home base to win the title during the 2010 season. He was in the midst of a second straight losing season in 2018 dismissed.
“I think the biggest thing is we’re disappointed,” McCarthy said when asked if he thinks he will stay as coach. ‘I have a whole team in the dressing room that is hurting. I haven’t thought beyond the outcome of this match.’
McCarthy said he had “a whole locker room ache” when asked if he would stay last Sunday
Prescott’s playoff record dropped to 2-5 after he led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes during the regular season and entered the MVP conversation.
“We had everything ready three hours ago,” Prescott said. “This is the last place anyone in this organization, especially in our locker room, would have thought we would be. That’s why I keep using the words “shocked” or “stunned.”
Dallas is the first No. 2 seed to lose to the last team at No. 7 since the playoffs expanded to the 14-team format in 2020.
Jones said “nothing” had been agreed on when he would meet McCarthy.
“What I planned to do was go over with him how we played and prepare for the week ahead,” Jones said. ‘That was on the agenda. Tomorrow my agenda will be to fire the team.”