Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys concluded the regular season as NFC East champions following a blowout win over the Washington Commanders.
Dallas is the No. 2 seed in the NFC after a third consecutive 12-win season under McCarthy. That’s all fine and dandy. But it’s now all about Dallas making a deep run in the playoffs starting at home during NFL Wild Card Weekend against his former Green Bay Packers team.
McCarthy knows that his tenure will be defined by playoff success after Dallas saw its season end in the postseason against the San Francisco 49ers each of the past two years.
Apparently, owner Jerry Jones is also making this clear. Here’s what he had to say after Dallas won its second division title in three years.
“His record speaks for itself. I think what he’s done, the fact that we’ve put ourselves in this position over these last three years, I think that does speak for itself. We’ve got a lot of football left in no small part thanks to Mike, thanks to his staff, and thanks to some really outstanding football players around here. So, we’ll see how each game goes.”
Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones on Mike McCarthy
On one hand, Jones is throwing a nice amount of support in McCarthy’s direction. On the other hand, he’s making it clear that the head coach is on the hot seat heading into the NFL Playoffs. “So, we’ll see how each game goes” doesn’t sound like someone’s job is safe.
Related: Dallas Cowboys will move on from Mike McCarthy under one scenario
Dallas has not earned a spot in the NFC Championship Game since following the 1995 season. That also represented the last time these Cowboys won the Super Bowl.
Jones has been loyal to his head coaches. For some, that included hanging on too long to former head coach Jason Garrett.
This is highly unlikely to be the case if Dallas doesn’t advance far in the upcoming NFL Playoffs. Jones made that more than clear on Sunday.