Mike McCarthy is a dead man walking.
That seemed like a given before the season, when Jerry Jones decided not to renew his head coach’s contract. The Cowboys will undoubtedly move on from McCarthy and most of the rest of the coaching staff after this season.
But they won’t change coaches during the season, the owner reiterated after Monday night’s 34-10 loss to the Texans.
“I made a change early on as coach with Chan Gailey, and I always regretted it. I also made a change during the season.” [with Wade Phillips] and regretted it, and that’s the music I listen to,” Jones said, repeat what he said after last week’s loss to the Eagles.
Gailey went 10-6 and 8-8 in 1998 and ’99, respectively, and was fired despite back-to-back playoff appearances. Phillips was fired in 2010 after a 45-7 non-league loss to the Packers dropped the Cowboys to 1-7. Jason Garrett took over as interim coach and was hired for a full-time position in 2011.
McCarthy entered this season with three consecutive 12-win seasons. But the Cowboys set him up for failure in 2024 by doing nothing in free agency and letting key players walk out the door.
The Cowboys lost their fifth straight game on Monday, dropping to 3-7. It’s already the most losses for the franchise since 2020, McCarthy’s first season, when they went 6-10. The Cowboys appear to be headed for their worst season since at least 2015, when they were 4-12.
However, Jones isn’t worried about McCarthy losing the locker room or the team moving on from him.
“You don’t have to worry about someone in the locker room giving everything he or she has and more, and how bad he or she feels if he or she gets beat in a game, or if he or she loses in a quarter or the whole match is defeated,” said Jones. said. “I never worry about that.”
The Cowboys are 45-32 in McCarthy’s five seasons, with a postseason record of 1-3. He and the entire technical staff are in the final year of their contracts.
