Getty Mike McCarthy is not panicking about the Dallas Cowboys.
If that was Mike McCarthy’s swan song with the Dallas Cowboys — 23-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card round — the grizzled head coach is embracing its tune.
“I don’t have any concerns,” McCarthy claimed after the game regarding his future, via ESPN’s Ed Werder. “I’m proud to be standing here today. I’m proud of this football team.”
Reports of McCarthy’s potential demise are widespread following the Cowboys’ first-round playoff exit, a bitterly disappointing conclusion for a 12-win club that not long ago looked the part of a Super Bowl contender.
The one-possession loss, marred by an NFL-record-tying 14 penalties and questionable coaching practices, directly fell at McCarthy’s feet — and it just may bury him.
“There’s going to be a lot of internal discussion,” CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported Monday, January 17. “Am I 100% convinced that Mike McCarthy is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys a week from now? I’m not.”
“It’s multiple people there who think it’s a real possibility that Mike McCarthy gets fired this week,” echoed 105.3 The Fan’s Bobby Belt.
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Cowboys Could Dump McCarthy to Save Quinn
Multiple league and team insiders have speculated on the next course of action for Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones, who’s “extraordinarily disappointed” by the club’s home “letdown” against San Francisco.
Jones is said to “love” defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who’s drawn head-coaching interest from several NFL organizations, including the Broncos, Jaguars, Dolphins, and Vikings. Quinn is scheduled to interview with Denver on Tuesday, January 18, and considered the frontrunner for the job.
Thus, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer postulated, Jones “may act with more urgency than he has in the past,” potentially axing McCarthy and promoting Quinn to the big seat.
“The combination of a club playoff record for penalties, and game-management issues at the end of Sunday’s game puts McCarthy in a weird spot coming out of the season,” Breer wrote on Monday, January 17. “The Cowboys brass loves defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, and the team seems to be on the precipice of losing him (he’s a leader for the Broncos’ job, and has gotten interest from just about every team with an opening). Would they shuffle things around to hang on to Quinn? We’ll see.
“Jerry Jones’s postgame message shouldn’t be ignored, either. He clearly believes his team is in a championship window. And he’s right about that. So he may act with more urgency than he has in the past.”
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Stephen Jones ‘Confident’ in McCarthy’s Return
Hired in 2020 to succeed Jason Garrett, the former Super Bowl-winner with the Green Bay Packers limped through a COVID-impacted 2020 campaign that was torpedoed by injury to franchise quarterback Dak Prescott. Dallas finished 6-10 and McCarthy was retained for a second go-round.
The Cowboys began white-hot this past regular-season before slumping around midseason, ratcheting up discourse about McCarthy’s status. The team closed out the year with a 12-5 record and NFC East title, which makes its quick postseason bouncing all that much worse.
Nevertheless …
Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones on @1053thefan said he expects Mike McCarthy to remain Dallas’ head coach.
“Absolutely. Very confident.”