Cowboys Making Big Mistake With Mike McCarthy
The 2020 Dallas Cowboys season has been an unmitigated disaster. From Dak Prescott's devastating ankle injury to Ezekiel Elliott's regression to the porous defense that ranks dead last in the NFL in scoring, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for Dallas.
Unfortunately for those, like Colin Cowherd, hoping that would lead to a head coaching change this offseason, think again. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, head coach Mike McCarthy will be retained by the Jones family for a second season. There are expected to be coaching changes on defense, but the man in charge will stay in charge in 2021.
Firing a coach after one year isn't typical and it can set the franchise back as players learn a new system and new techniques. However, McCarthy was called out by anonymous players as being "unprepared" earlier this season and the Cowboys have been embarrassed on national television their last two games, losing by the combined score of 75-33 to Washington and the Ravens. Couple that with the fact that Prescott was injured on a designed run play, which unnecessarily exposed him to injury and the Cowboys did a lot of that with him before he dislocated his ankle, and you have grounds for moving on.
McCarthy went 125-77-2 in 13 years leading the Packers, highlighted by winning the 2011 Super Bowl. He was fired midway through the 2018 season and the Packers, and Aaron Rodgers, have thrived since his departure. McCarthy signed with the Cowboys this offseason after they fired Jason Garrett, but his game plan has been questionable and the team's performance has been putrid much of the season.
Despite leading the No. 32 ranked scoring defense and No. 23 scoring offense, it appears McCarthy will get another chance to prove this year was a fluke. Whether he deserves to be fired is up to the Jones family, but his resume certainly presents a stronger argument for moving on than staying the path.