The Mike McCarthy era in Dallas is now finally over. As of less than a half hour ago, it was reported that McCarthy will not return as the Cowboys head coach for the 2025 season.
The two sides could not come to terms on an agreement on the length of a new contract, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported first.
McCarthy, whose contract is set to expire on Tuesday, will now look for a new team after five seasons and three playoff appearances with Dallas.
McCarthy is expected to be a candidate in Chicago and New Orleans. The Bears is a place that a lot of people have said they could see him coaching for.
Sources: Mike McCarthy is out as #Cowboys coach.
The sides couldn’t agree on length of contract and McCarthy will pursue other opportunities. He leaves Dallas with a winning record and three playoff appearances. pic.twitter.com/MJzWvUlfjU
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 13, 2025
Why Wait?
You all have been wondering the same thing I have been, why did Jerry Jones wait this long? He denied the Bears a chance to interview him only let him go a handful of days later.
Let’s first say that Jerry Jones is not right for playing with another mans job, and he is the biggest problem in Dallas.
His tenure in Dallas ends after five seasons, finishing 49-35 over that span, and now while every other organization has gotten the upper hand on the coaching field by bringing them in for interviews, they now have to search for that guy who will take his place.
Not only that, they will either have to let Brian Schottenheimer calls the plays and keep the same Texas Coast offense, or start from the bottom and get a new HC and OC and start to build it again.
A Cowboys official now says Dallas and Mike McCarthy are “parting ways.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 13, 2025
After they denied the man an interview for the Bears, I thought he would be coming back, now here we are, most fans got what they wanted, but at what cost?
Jerry Jones played with his mans future, and who knows what the next move is going to be for this football team.
This team won a lot of games with big Mike, but in the end I think the 2021, 2022 and 2023 playoff losses did him in, and yes, part of that is on Dak Prescott, part of that is on the defense, part of this is on everyone, but you are locked into Dak, and here we go again.
Who Is Next?
Well, let’s see since Jerry played with this man job and waited an extra week to let him go, now they are behind the 8-ball on who they can talk to as most of the best guys are outside of the window.
Aaron Glenn has transformed the Detroit Lions’ defense into one of the NFL’s top run-stopping units. Under Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys’ greatest weakness has consistently been their inability to stop the run, he could be looked at.
Ben Johnson is the guy everyone wants, and no way he will be willing to take a job like the Cowboys as his first, when he has like no say in anything he wants to do since it is all run by Jerry Jones.
Don’t even get me started with the Deion Sanders garbage either, he is not coming to Dallas and if anyone thinks he would be a good coach in the NFL has no idea what they are talking about.
At this point, I have no idea who they will even look at, maybe Kellen Moore or Jason Witten, who knows!
What I do know is that if it is Kellen Moore I will hate every second of it. He has been through three different teams now, he isn’t a good play caller. Give me the PS5 controller, it is not hard to hand the ball of to Barkley 35 times a game.
Cowboys and Mike McCarthy are parting ways. Exclusive negotiating window expired Tuesday. A deal was not going to come together. Jerry Jones on the market for his ninth head coach.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) January 13, 2025
I am just unhappy with the way Jerry handled this and all the Cowboys fans can be happy Mike is gone, but the fact that Jerry Jones did what he did is uncalled for.
Let’s all take some time to see if the Jones family says anything, and what they do moving forward, but right now this is really annoying.
Not surprising. MM wasn’t the problem with this team. Most informed fans know where most of the problem lies. Commented here for years about this issue and it still remains thanks to another ill-conceived deal/contract to a regressing player. Until that position gets fixed, they will sadly remain mediocre.
Tomlin’s name is coming up, but he is still with Pitt last I heard. Witten doesn’t have college or pro coaching experience, but he may bring a tenacity/dedication/discipline mentality to the team that he exuded as a player. In his 17-year career, Jason missed just one game. But who knows who is next? Good luck to him, he will need it.
Vam, the problem is Jerry, and you know this. This team hasn’t been to a NFC title game in 30 years no matter who has been at QB.
Well, the top candidates are all still available – except for Vrabel. So i don’t see how Dallas somehow “missed out” on anyone else. Jerrah seemingly wanted McCarthy to stick around. It didnt work out. I suspect Mike wanted more personnell input. You know how THAT went. Ultimately, It cost nothing.
It’s bittersweet for me, MMC was decent enough, he’s a leader, and players play pretty hard for him, and he was able to win a lot of games, flip side of that tho he’s a absolute garbage playcaller, has no Offensive playcalling vision, mfer’s playbook was basically Madden, the most vanilla basic play calling you’ll ever see, and then refuse to get a OC which is stupid, he can’t coach defense, need Zimmer or DQ over there for that.
And then there’s the well documented clock management issues that MMC is absolutely dog poo poo at, every year there’s at least 2 or 3 games where I’m like “wtf are you doing MMC ?” And then there’s on top of all that he’s a very emotional HC, where he’ll go for it when he shouldn’t (works only for Lions with Dan cuz they’re the best team out there and have a offensive mind in Ben Johnson) or throw a challenge flag on a play that shouldn’t be challenged
And yes Jerry is very much a problem, but do you seriously think Stephen is gonna be any better ? He’s gonna be just like his good ole dad, hell, he might be the actual bad one here and not Jerry. Anyways that’s not going to change but HC on other hand, we need someone new
Vrabel was my home run hit for the Job but ofc he’s with Pats now, next I’d say is Flores, him and hopefully we bring back Zimmer, between them 2 minds they could bring this defense back together to form, Flores can also command a locker room and lead.
Zimmer could be an option at HC too
Carroll could be solid, smart guy, leader, players play hard for him
But I will quit watching Cowboys next year if Kellen Moore becomes HC lmao
whoever they choose will be for marketing purposes more than winning football. They will have to work cheap and bend a knee before the jones kingdom. Good luck with that. Someone with the skills of a Jimmy Johnson would be amazing but considering the built up control issues now of the gm don’t count on it. Who does that leave???? Kellen is comfortable but not the answer. Best wishes Big Mike you will do better somewhere else just like Dan quinn. Here probably some older retread. But Mike take all your coaches except zim and al harris. Ahhhhh get ready for the “really big shooo” from jones.