The Dallas Cowboys suffered a shocking blowout loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs on Sunday, and Cowboys legend Michael Irvin thinks Mike McCarthy’s time as head coach should be up as a result.
“This kind of a loss, this kind of a stench in this place can’t stay around,” Irvin said on FS1’s Undisputed. “You can’t sell hope to the fanbase next year with this in tact as is. … I know you had three 12-win seasons, but you lose two of those three playoff games in the Wild Card Round and one in the Divisional Round. It’s not just that you lost those games; it’s how you lost those games.”
The Cowboys were behind 27-0 at halftime on Sunday and ended up losing 48-32 in a game that was not nearly as close as the score indicates. Last winter, they mustered just 12 points in a Divisional Round loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and two years ago, they fell to the 49ers by a score of 23-17 in the Wild Card Round.
McCarthy was at the helm for all three of those losses, and in his debut campaign in 2020, Dallas went just 6-10. In his defense, Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending injury early that year, but McCarthy’s lack of postseason success will almost surely influence Jerry Jones’ decision this offseason.
“It’s hard to say ‘move forward as is,'” added Irvin. “It’s just hard to say that. You can’t change the whole football team, but the best change you can make are the coaches. … It will be hard to say ‘Mike McCarthy, let’s line it up, let’s try it again next year.'”
McCarthy has gone 43-28 (including playoffs) through four seasons with the Cowboys, guiding the team to a pair of NFC East division titles.
In spite of McCarthy’s impressive record and the two division crowns, Jones may be losing patience. After all, Dallas has not made it past the Divisional Round of the playoffs since the 1995-96 campaign, which also happens to be the last time the franchise won the Super Bowl.
Plus, with Bill Belichick available this offseason, Jones may decide its time to go in a different direction.
It remains to be seen, but it appears that Mike McCarthy’s days in Dallas are numbered.
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