Is it time for the Dallas Cowboys to extend Mike McCarthy’s contract?

After every offseason, teams fire and hire coaches like a yard sale on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately for the Dallas Cowboys, that is not an issue this year and should not be one anytime soon…

The Cowboys have only fired and hired five head coaches since 2000, with Jason Garrett being the latest Cowboys head coach to receive the axe. However, the Cowboys front office loved ole Coach-Clap-A lot so much, they made it a point to clarify that Garrett’s contract was not renewed (instead of the being “fired”).

The NFL is notorious for firing coaches in the middle of the season, at the end of their first season, or at the end of their second season. I know other professionals leagues do the same thing, but the NFL is ruthless like the mobsters from the Godfather trilogy: if you do not produce the wins or Super Bowls, you get wacked immediately. NEXT COACH UP

The Dallas Cowboys would be wise to extend head coach Mike McCarthy because he can deliver them another Lombardi trophy.

Landing a franchise quarterback is the number priority of all 32 NFL teams, and finding a great coach to coach up that franchise quarterback carries the same amount of importance. Both needs each other to have success on the gridiron and are tied together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You cannot have one without the other.

Coach Big Mac may have his flaws as a head coach, but being a loser is not one of them. And that is all that matters.

Luckily for the Dallas Cowboys, they have both in Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy, a Super Bowl-winning coach that coached two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history (Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers-the Grinch from Green Bay).

Whether you are a fan or not, all Coach Big Mac has done is win 25 games over two seasons, capture an NFC crown (6-0 in division in 2021), make two playoff appearances, win this franchise a road playoff game in 30 years, and go 5-1 with a backup quarterback, Cooper Rush.

Sure, McCarthy’s first season with the Dallas Cowboys was a losing one because he lost Dak to a season-ending injury but he has proven that he can win with a competent roster and should be Dallas’ head coach long term. Heading into his fourth season, McCarthy has finally shaped this team into his image and likeness with roster turnover and shaking up his coaching staff.

McCarthy has his flaws like any other head coach in the league, but outside of Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, and Mike Tomlin, he is just as good as his contemporaries. Yep, that includes the head coaches of two of his divisional rivals- the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. Nick Sirianni and Ron Rivera are both Super Bowl-losing coaches with losing records against Coach Big Mac.

Belichick, Reid, and Tomlin are not just Super Bowl-winning head coaches, but they all have one thing in common: they are long-tenured coaches with organizations that have been patient with them and work together to create a winning formula.

There is no panic if the team misses the playoffs and have not won the Super Bowl since 2008 (Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers) or miss the playoffs two out of the last three seasons (Belichick of the New England Patriots). We just witnessed Reid win his second Super Bowl with the Chiefs within four seasons and had another appearance as the Chiefs’ coach.

Jerry Jones would be wise to follow this blueprint and invest in McCarthy like he did with Jason Garrett. Jerry stuck with Garrett for nine full seasons with minimal success, so if he can withstand that mediocrity of coaching, he can definitely stick with McCarthy-a true upgrade in every aspect of coaching.

McCarthy has already laid out his blueprint on how to run his team with his type of players, so why not commit to this man long term and build a contending, perennial championship-caliber team?

Unlike other NFL coaches that needs to take full credit for his team’s success, McCarthy is fine being behind the scenes as Jerry parades around the cameras like a super model on Glamour magazine.

McCarthy knows Jerry has become that old uncle that loves to tell war stories at the family’s annual cookout. In other words, nobody is paying attention to Jerry’s unlimited talking  because it amounts to nothing but gibberish.

While coaching at Green Bay, McCarthy complied a record of 125-77-2, and had .618 winning percentage that ranked him fourth in franchise history behind the likes of Vince Lombardi (.754), Mike Holmgren (.670), and Curly Lambeau (.623).

In McCarthy’s 16 seasons as a head coach, he is 155-97-2 in the regular season, 11-10 in the playoffs (.524), and has a career record of 166-107-2. Coach Big Mac is one of five head coaches (Belichick, Reid, Chuck Noll, and Tom Landry) to lead a team to eight straight playoff appearances. That is some good company right there. My Gawd!

It gets even better with McCarthy’s resume when it comes to developing quarterbacks. Rodgers will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever because of his arm talent and overall skillset as a signal caller, but the four-time league MVP did not come into the league that way. with all of the hype. McCarthy played a big part in developing/coaching Rodgers-something he does not get enough credit for.

It was McCarthy who saw the talent in Rodgers and encouraged the Packers to move on from the wishy-washy Brett Favre who had become malcontent with the Packers front office for various reasons.

In Rodgers’ first season under McCarthy, he passed for 28 TDs, 13 interceptions, and 4,038 yards. Two years later, Rodgers was a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, and the following season he won his first of four league MVPs.

McCarthy can do the same with Dak in terms of making him reach his full potential as a quarterback, who had one of his worst seasons statistically with 17 interceptions. McCarthy knows the reasons for Dak’s high interception rate and speaks highly of his quarterback and his playmaking abilities when the chips are down. So, next season you can expect a well-polished Dak to bounce back with a boatload of offensive weapons to avoid those costly interceptions.

Because McCarthy coaches for the most recognizable sports franchise on the planet, he is carrying the burden of delivering a Super Bowl to an organization that has not won one since the end of the 1995 regular season. And quite frankly, McCarthy is the man that can deliver on his promise because he the track record to prove it. This is the same coach that constantly beat Dallas and even did it on the road with a backup quarterback known as Matt Flynn.

Why this fanbase do not believe McCarthy can coach is beyond baffling. No, I am not saying he is the greatest head coach or anything like that, but the man is a really good coach who deserves his credit. His Packers team broke my heart too many times!

I know Dallas’ fanbase is 50/50 on McCarthy as the head coach, always pointing out his clock management as an issue and how a coach like Sean Payton would never do something like that. Maybe not, but unlike Payton, McCarthy never had three consecutive losing seasons with a 7-9 record with a future Hall of Famer (Drew Brees) as his quarterback.

Nothing against Payton who is a great coach and will do wonders in Denver, but record wise, there is not a big difference between Payton and McCarthy. Besides, Payton wants total control over everything and that is not always a good thing, unless it is a coach like Belichick.

In conclusion,

As Coach Big Mac eases into his fourth season as the Dallas Cowboys head coach, the fan base should look at all of his positives as a reason why the front office needs to commit to him long term.

He has proven he can win more than a few games with a backup quarterback, committed to his players playing tougher this season, cut down on costly penalties later in the season, shook up his coaching staff, will take over play calling duties, and most importantly,  stuck behind his quarterback in his most difficult year as a pro.

And he guided his team to winning a road playoff game for the first time since 1992-while beating Tom Brady and sending him off into retirement! Thank Gawd!

Coach Big Mac may have his flaws as a head coach, but being a loser is not one of them. And that is all that matters.

So Dallas Cowboys, go ahead and secure your Super Bowl-winning head coach to a long term contract because that is one war story worth listening to from that old uncle at the family’s annual cookout!