The case for Cowboys keeping Mike McCarthy the rest of 2024

Why firing Mike McCarthy would be a mistake for the Cowboys. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys might not have had much postseason success over the last 25+ seasons, but they are a proud franchise with sky high expectations. Every year they set out with the expectation of competing, and to players, fans and ownership, anything short of a Super Bowl constitutes a failure to some degree.

Despite these lofty expectations in Dallas, the Cowboys have traditionally been remarkably patient with their underachieving head coaches. Jerry Jones, the final say in all things football, isn’t quick on the trigger. After preemptively parting with Chan Gailey in 1999, Jones has been remarkably patient with his head coaches.

In-season firings have been even rarer since Jones has been in the picture. Only after the team seemingly quit on Wade Philips did Jones deliver a midseason pink slip. Midseason firings are riddled with obstacles. Not only must the team find a suitable replacement from the unemployment line, but they have to pay the recently departed coach just to go home and sit on his couch.

Coming off a spectacularly terrible 47-9 loss to the Lions in Week 6, some are calling for McCarthy to get his midseason walking papers. The game marked the third consecutive home loss this season and the third time in the last four home games the Cowboys lost extremely convincingly. The case to replace McCarthy has merit but there’s a better case to made for the contrary.

First, it’s the replacement issue. Who can step up into his role? Mike Zimmer could do it, but should he be rewarded when his side of the ball is giving up 39.67 points per game at home? Brian Schottenheimer is second fiddle to McCarthy on offense but he’s not even calling plays. He’s an unlikely candidate to keep his offensive coordinator job, let alone take the helm at head coach.

John Fassel?

Come on now.

The Cowboys would likely have to pull from outside the franchise and what coach in his right mind would want to step into this mess in the midseason? The Cowboys still have a first-place schedule to deal with, they still have injuries to overcome, and they still have a talent issue at all key offensive playmaker spots. Bill Belichick has better things to do and that is literally anything.

Next, it’s the reputation issue. One of the best qualities of Jerry Jones is his patience with his coaching staff. He had plenty of cause to fire McCarthy following the 2022 season, but he didn’t. He had all the reasons in the world to fire McCarthy following the 2023 season, but he didn’t. He allowed McCarthy to play out the term of his deal and that’s very attractive to a good head coaching candidate wanting to build a program.

Firing McCarthy would unravel that reputation for Jones removing one of the most attractive traits America’s Team has to offer.

The time to fire McCarthy was over the offseason. The Cowboys knew what they had in their head coach then and had options to replace him available to them. They made their bed and now they have to lie in it.

McCarthy should be replaced, but the time isn’t now. Nothing to do now but ride it out and reassess in the offseason.

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