Mike McCarthy, Jerry Jones in good spot, focused on winning Super Bowl | Opinion
.jpg "Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, right, looks on as owner Jerry Jones takes questions from the media at the start of NFL football training camp, July 2022, in Oxnard, Calif. The duo will be there again in six months.")
Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy hasn’t slept much since the season-ending loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Divisional Playoffs last Sunday.
And he’s yet to even fully review the tape of the game.
A beaten up McCarthy, as one staffer described him, has been about the business of evaluating players and coaches for the future, that has already resulted in major staff changes, with focus on doing “everything we need to do to get this trophy.”
The trophy is the Super Bowl trophy which has eluded the Cowboys franchise for 27 straight years since their last Super Bowl title in 1995.
It was the reason McCarthy was hired to replace Jason Garrett in 2020.
He is admittedly “still stunned” from Sunday’s loss to the 49ers.
After back to back 12-5 seasons, with both ending in bitter disappointing losses playoff losses well short of the Super Bowl, McCarthy will be able to continue that journey at least with the comfort of knowing that he won’t hear more “disgusting narratives” about his future with the organization.
A year ago McCarthy was left twisting in the wind among rumors about former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn replacing him as coach.
Owner Jerry Jones finally put the fire out but McCarthy acknowledged being uncomfortable about the process.
That is not the case heading into 2023. Jones incredulously even invoked Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry’s 29-year run with the Cowboys when he discussed McCarthy’s future.
“As far as my relationship with Jerry, just using his words, we’re in an excellent spot,” McCarthy said. “The partnership that we have, he’s excited about. He told me a number of times this week that he wants me to coach here as long as Coach Landry did. And I said, ‘OK, that’s a long time.’ I feel really good about our relationship.”
Of course, what wasn’t said was the Landry’s time in Dallas included an NFL record for most consecutive winning seasons with 20 from 1966 to 1985 when the Cowboys reached the playoffs 18 times, won 13 NFC East championships, reached the Super Bowl five times and won two Super Bowl titles.
What also wasn’t said was that Jones fired Landry when he bought the team in 1989 and hired his college friend Jimmy Johnson.
McCarthy understands as much.
He said he never got the sense in his conversations with Jones that his job was ever on the line.
“I’ve never felt that,” McCarthy said. “The narrative was externally generated. It’s disgusting to deal with.”
Of course, if the Super Bowl drought extends to 28 years with another disappointing finish in 2023, the conversations may be different between Jones and McCarthy.
McCarthy truly believes the Cowboys have made progress over the last years with back-to-back trips to the playoffs for the first time since 2006-2007 and back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time since 1992-1995 when they won three Super Bowl titles in four years.
But that next step is all that matters which was why the major changes he is making to the staff are so important.
“I’ll tell you this, from the moment I walked off the field (against San Francisco), I was starting to think about changes and adjustments,” McCarthy said. “You don’t get to pick up where you left off. I think our foundation is stronger today than we were last year So I’m extremely excited about the future. It might not look like it right now. I haven’t slept in days. We still got a lot of work to do. This is the time where it starts.
“Please have confidence and clear understanding that we’re going to do everything we need to do to get this trophy.”
