Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy ‘Very Confident’ in Direction of Team Despite Playoff Exit

Erin WalshJanuary 18, 2024

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The Dallas Cowboys may have been upset by the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round on Sunday, but head coach Mike McCarthy remains confident that the team is headed in the right direction entering 2024.

“I am very confident in the direction, and I like where we are moving forward,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday. “I’m very confident where I am.”

After the Cowboys were blown out 48-32 by the Packers in the wild card round at AT&T Stadium, there were questions about McCarthy’s status as head coach of the franchise.

However, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday that McCarthy would return to the Cowboys in 2024, which is the final year of his contract. Team owner Jerry Jones confirmed the report in a statement:

“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach. There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our post season goals. Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.”Further, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy. Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we’re all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals.”We will start our process of review and decision making regarding everything that impacts our team and roster and, while we’re not going to address specific players and extensions or free agents at this point, it deserves our deepest review and consideration, and it will get it.”McCarthy has been head coach of the Cowboys since 2020. In his four seasons at the helm, Dallas is 42-25, winning the NFC East twice and securing a playoff berth in three of his four years.

However, America’s Team hasn’t made it past the divisional round with McCarthy as head coach and has suffered wild card losses in two of the last three seasons.

Quarterback Dak Prescott has also seemingly found his status with the team put into question as his playoff performances have ultimately been disappointing. Prescott is due for a contract extension, and it’s unlikely the Cowboys move on from the veteran as there’s not many other options for the franchise this offseason.

While the Cowboys are set to roll into 2024 with McCarthy and Prescott, it could be their last shot to prove that they can be a legitimate Super Bowl contender as another wild card loss could spell the end of the McCarthy-Prescott era.