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Is there a franchise that leaves more to be desired than the Dallas Cowboys?
Sunday’s Wild Card loss to the Packers was the latest in a string of early-postseason debacles under Mike McCarthy, leaving fans reeling and questioning the future of the franchise.
I spent all season listening to Dallas fans, players, coaches, and ownership talking about how this year was different. How this team was different. How they were built for playoff success.
When you have the same quarterback, same head coach, same defensive coordinator, and same GM, what did you expect? Issues such as those plaguing the Cowboys don’t just go away overnight. Simply put, it was INSANE to think this season would be any different. Quite literally the dictionary definition.
Except even I didn’t completely expect them to get dismantled by Jordan Love and Aaron Jones.
I mean, listen to the crap that DeMarcus Lawrence was feeding Cowboys fans THIS WEEK!
Jones ran for 118 yards and three touchdowns last night. Sure were hitting him, weren’t you, DeMarcus?
The arrogance and entitlement of the entire Cowboys apparatus is annoying to put up with, sure, but it’s so fun to watch it all come crashing down every year.
My real question is this: What have the Cowboys actually done to make people think they will ever win under this current regime? There are fans that have been born, grown up, gotten married, and had kids since the Cowboys had any relevant playoff success.
The only answer is to tear the whole thing down and start over again. The rot in the franchise runs so much deeper than one person, and you just have to clear all that out.
Dak Prescott is 2-5 in the playoffs in his career, and while his passing stats look pretty good on paper (he was 41/60 with over 400 yards last night), he’s clearly not good enough to lead a team deep into the playoffs. I mean, this was as crippling a mistake as you can make.
To take things up a level, the team as a whole was grossly unprepared for the game, which shows a clear lack of ability and attention from the coaching staff. Mike McCarthy has to be fired. There’s no other logical choice. Sure, he’s won 12 games in each of the last three seasons, but he hasn’t made it past the Divisional Round once.
Even in Green Bay, McCarthy had a track record of choking seasons away when it mattered most. Yes, he won the Super Bowl in 2010, but if you take away the four playoff wins from that season, he was 6-8 in the playoffs with the Packers, including an all-time failure in 2011 when, after a 15-1 season, Green Bay got smoked by the Giants in the Divisional.
McCarthy has a terrible record of leaving his teams unprepared for the playoffs. In an offseason where prolific coaching candidates such as Jim Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, and Mike Vrabel are available, there’s a massive opportunity for the Cowboys to bring someone in who won’t let the team collapse in January.
Beyond McCarthy, the Cowboys better hope that Dan Quinn gets a head coaching job, because he’s gotta go too. I already mentioned Jones’s rushing numbers, and Jordan Love passed for 272 yards and three touchdowns on 16/21 passing, leading to a perfect 157.2 QBR. The Cowboys defense that was supposed to be its strength got cooked more than a burnt slice of toast.
And let’s take this thing a step further: What have Jerry and Stephen Jones done to prove they can effectively make personnel decisions? Jones bought the team in 1989 and immediately caught lightning in a bottle with Jimmie Johnson, but Dallas hasn’t accomplished anything since the Johnson era.
The Joneses have consistently proven to be inept at making effective moves both in the player and coaching markets. It will never happen while Jones owns the team, but I think it’s time for them to hand over personnel decisions to someone who actually understands football. I don’t know who that may be, but it’s certainly worth considering.
Nonetheless, it’s painfully obvious that serious, franchise-altering changes are needed. You can’t keep parading the same shit year after year, dress it up slightly differently, and expect it not to still smell like shit. Until those decisions are made, the Cowboys simply aren’t serious about winning.
Follow Nick Hedges on X (@nicktrimshedges) or Instagram (@nicktrimshedges).
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