3 Cowboys on Thin Ice Heading Into the Playoffs

3. Mike McCarthy, HC

Mike McCarthy is a fantastic regular-season head coach. His 62.0% career winning percentage in the regular season is seventh-best among active coaches while his 167 victories are the 18th-most in NFL history, putting him just 23 wins outside of the top 10. He's also coached Dallas to three straight 12-win campaigns and two NFC East titles, which is no easy task.

Having said that, the 60-year-old's postseason record is somewhat spotty. After going 5-2 in the playoffs and winning a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers from 2007 to 2010, McCarthy's teams have only gone 6-8 without any conference titles in his 11 subsequent seasons as a head coach.

Fast forward to just before the playoffs are set to begin and it looks like McCarthy's future in Dallas hinges on the team's playoff success. On Jan. 6, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that sources around the NFL and "even some within the Cowboys organization" indicate that McCarthy could be given the boot depending on how the playoffs go.

"But if [the Cowboys] struggle and end the season with an embarrassing loss, as has happened in each of the past two years, then some say that change could come to Dallas.
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- Adam Schefter on Mike McCarthy

Even though there's still plenty of reasons to believe in McCarthy's vision, Schefter adds that the Cowboys want to do whatever they can to keep defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Considering that there are questions about what Dallas "would be willing to do" to keep Quinn, potentially one option is to give him McCarthy's job.

As much praise as McCarthy deserves for turning the Cowboys into a juggernaut on both sides of the ball, that status only means so much if Dallas can't win the Super Bowl. If the team can't get the job done and make it to Las Vegas in February, a change could be necessary to get to the next level.

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