Cowboys-Mike McCarthy Situation Gets Worst Update Yet

The 2024 NFL season is finally over for the Dallas Cowboys. It began with Jerry Jones claiming to go "all-in" and the team looking like a decent bet to make a postseason run. Instead, it was the most disappointing season in recent memory, culminating in playoff elimination with weeks to go in the regular season.

Before the season, this was considered to be a make-or-break year for head coach Mike McCarthy. This was the last year of his contract, and another failure would signal the end of the road for McCarthy.

Despite the 7-10 finish, however, there is uncertainty about whether the 61-year-old will stay in Dallas going forward. In fact, ESPN's Adam Schefter just confirmed on Monday that the head coaching question in Dallas would take a while to solve, calling it a situation that "will play itself out slower relative to the rest of the NFL."

This is in line with what Jerry Jones and Cowboys ownership have been talking about in recent weeks. They don't seem to be in a rush to move on from McCarthy. Instead, they have been praising him at every turn for the way he rallied the team in the final stretch of meaningless games.

Schefter's reporting likely increases the chances of McCarthy staying in Dallas. The Cowboys management wouldn't want to announce immediately after the season that they are retaining McCarthy because of potential fan pushback. If they were going to not re-sign McCarthy, they had plenty of time to make that decision and would have announced it after Week 18.

Plenty of non-playoff teams already fired their head coaches and are beginning to interview candidates this week. There is a benefit to moving early in this situation to have a chance at the top candidates like Lions OC Ben Johnson. By moving slowly, the Cowboys are guaranteeing that they will not have a ton of great options on the coaching market.

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