Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones has made his final decision on Mike McCarthy’s job status.
Following the Cowboys’ playoff-eliminating loss at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, January 22, Jones made one thing clear — McCarthy’s job is not impacted by the 19-12 loss. However, Jones did make sure to end his thoughts by calling the loss to the 49ers “very sickening.”
Via Jon Machota of The Athletic:
“No, not at all,” when asked if the result of the game impacts McCarthy’s job status. “Their decision on our kicker was exonerated with his field goal, in my mind. I’m proud for him. This is very sickening to not win tonight.”
Cowboys Fall Short in Part Due to Dak Prescott’s Interceptions
For the second straight year, the Cowboys were eliminated by the 49ers from the postseason. This time however, Dallas entered as underdogs while playing hundreds of miles away from home in San Francisco. Furthermore, the 49ers are the NFC’s second seed, while the Cowboys entered as a wild card playoff team as the fifth seed.
Dallas had their opportunities to win the game. However, turnovers did them in in this low-scoring affair. While 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy did an excellent job taking care of the football (zero turnovers), Cowboys QB Dak Prescott had issues taking care of the football.
Prescott threw two interceptions, including one in the first quarter that directly resulted in a 49ers field goal. The second one occurred with Dallas threatening in scoring position at the end of the first half on 2nd-and-2 from the San Francisco 18-yard-line.
Jerry Jones Previously Echoed Confidence in Mike McCarthy
Jones’ comments come less than two weeks after he echoed confidence in McCarthy as the Cowboys’ head coach. In fact, he made similar comments regarding McCarthy’s job security heading into their wild card playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Via Todd Archer of ESPN:
“No. I don’t even want to … No. That’s it,” Jones said during an interview with 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, January 10. “I don’t need to go into all the pluses or minuses. I’ve got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game. I can’t tell you how much confidence I’ve got in Mike and our coaching staff of being on top of where we are with this team right now.”
Through three seasons as Cowboys head coach, McCarthy has compiled a 30-20 regular season record and a 1-2 record in the postseason. The former Super Bowl champion is actually the first head coach to lead Dallas to back-to-back playoff berths since Chan Gailey during the 1998-99 seasons.
However, it’s clear that the Cowboys may have hit a wall with McCarthy as head coach. The 59-year-old has never defeated the 49ers in the postseason, dating back to his days as the Green Bay Packers head coach. He’s 0-4 all-time versus San Francisco in the playoffs, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
“Mike McCarthy is 0-4 in his playoff career against the 49ers (lost in 2012 and ’13 with Packers, 2021 and ’22 with Cowboys). That ties Tom Landry vs the Rams for the most losses by a coach vs any opponent in NFL playoff history.”
Outside of fierce competition within their own division in the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants, the Cowboys are going to have to find a way to defeat teams like the 49ers in the playoffs.
Doing so is the only way they’ll be able to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1995 season.
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Jerry Jones Makes Definitive Call on Mike McCarthy’s Future With Cowboys