Teams are already scouring the market for new head coaches and firing bad fits. One coach who hasn\u2019t been locked into his organization is none other than the Dallas Cowboys Mike McCarthy. McCarthy helped the Cowboys to three consecutive 12-5 seasons in previous years. Yet the Cowboys finished with a 7-10 record, their first losing season since McCarthy\u2019s first year as head coach back in 2020. Only one question remains: What\u2019s next for the Dallas Cowboys and McCarthy?<\/p>\n
McCarthy could stay in Dallas. After all, he has faced lots of in-season success. Even though the 2024 season didn\u2019t go as anticipated, most of that wasn\u2019t on McCarthy. Injuries plagued the team from start to finish<\/a>. Yet, even when injuries weren\u2019t dragging the team down, there just appeared to be a lack of connection between the main stars<\/a> of the organization.<\/p>\n If McCarthy comes back, the Cowboys could see another performance slump. In the eight games he started, Dak Prescott managed 12 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He wasn\u2019t trending very well before the injury, and coming back after rehabbing, he could struggle again. Yet, it isn\u2019t the regular season where the Cowboys have faced most of their difficulties \u2013 it\u2019s the postseason. McCarthy\u2019s record for the postseason with the Cowboys is 1-3, with no conference championship appearances. There\u2019s nothing to match those 12-5 seasons with and there\u2019s no guarantee that it\u2019ll suddenly happen with another opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a good chance the Cowboys do not bring back McCarthy. Lack of advanced playoff appearances would be the primary factor in letting him go, similar to how it played a big role in Prescott’s contract<\/a>. However, at least Mike McCarthy has been to the playoffs before and won a Super Bowl. The tough part about finding a replacement for McCarthy is that the coaches on the market don\u2019t have any tangible success. It\u2019s a gamble to take in someone new. It\u2019s also a gamble if McCarthy remains.<\/p>\n McCarthy also might not stay on the market long. Other teams like the Chicago Bears have already shown interest<\/a> in taking the coach if the Cowboys no longer want him. And usually, if the head coach is wanted by another team, then he still has a spark that other teams admire. This leaves one more alternative for the Cowboys.<\/p>\n A third option that most people haven\u2019t considered is to release McCarthy from being the playcaller. The issue isn\u2019t McCarthy\u2019s ability to keep a locker room together. It isn\u2019t a lack of motivation or drive. But instead, it\u2019s a lack of creativity.<\/p>\n Teams know exactly what to expect from the Cowboys now. They go into games, plan around CeeDee Lamb, and know that\u2019s all they\u2019ve had to worry about. It wasn\u2019t until recently that the Cowboys run game began to heat up<\/a>. Having a successful run game only began because McCarthy realized he couldn\u2019t have Prescott air the ball out 40 times a game.<\/p>\n The league is rapidly changing. Most of that change lies in the value of an excellent running back.<\/a> A great running back allows the quarterback to rest, keeps defenses guessing, and gives offenses one more weapon. Offensively, the Cowboys just don\u2019t have the depth. Jonathan Mingo isn\u2019t likely to suddenly become the sensational WR2<\/a> the team was counting on. If the Cowboys want to win games and go far into the playoffs, they need a new way of thinking. Specifically, they need versatility inside of the playbook, and that\u2019s something that Mike McCarthy just isn\u2019t able to provide.<\/p>\n But it is something they can delegate to someone else while keeping McCarthy and increasing their Super Bowl odds in the future.<\/p>\n Main Image: \u00a0Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What’s next for the Dallas Cowboys and Mike McCarthy and how will it affect the Cowboys goals into the future?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5238,"featured_media":208721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,19],"tags":[7422,276],"class_list":["post-208700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-cowboys","tag-dallas-cowboys-news","tag-mike-mccarthy"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208724,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208700\/revisions\/208724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}If the Dallas Cowboys and McCarthy Part Ways<\/h3>\n
Adding a Different Play Designer for the Dallas Cowboys<\/h3>\n