Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has laid down an unequivocal stance when it comes to head coach Mike McCarthy and his future with the franchise.

Mike McCarthy came to the Dallas Cowboys with a rather big reputation under his belt following his years in charge of the Green Bay Packers. He won a Super Bowl with them during the 2010 season, and had compiled a record of 125-77-2 during the regular season, winning the NFC North 6 times and going 10-8 in the playoffs. 

Now part of that might have been down to the play of Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, but when you’re used to winning that much, as soon as you’re out of one job, it was never going to be too long before one of the other 31 teams around the NFL snap you up, and after a one-year hiatus in 2019, that’s exactly what happened as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones brought him on board.

When it comes to winning, he had a better resume than the previous head coach of the Cowboys Jason Garrett who had a record of 85-67 in the regular season, including three straight seasons in a row where they were mediocre with an 8-8 record, far from enough to be seen as taking the Cowboys forward as a franchise. 

The Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones are a team that were used to winning, having won 5 Super Bowl titles, three of them coming under Jones’ reign in the early 1990s, with their last one coming in the 1995 season.

A steady start for McCarthy

McCarthy got off to something of a rough start in Dallas, with the Cowboys going 6-10 in his first season in charge, although given the randomness and uniqueness of both the preseason and regular season as a result of the pandemic, and losing franchise quarterback Dak Prescott to injury, you have to give him some leeway in terms of results. 

His second season saw them get back to being competitive with a 12-5 record and the #3 seed in the playoffs, so things are moving in the right direction, but if they don’t carry on that way in 2022, then it might be time for a change.

It’s no secret that Jones is getting on a bit, at 79 years old you wonder how much time he has left to see the Cowboys win the Vince Lombardi Trophy again, and given his reputation of being so desperate to win, there’s the sense that he might make move to replace McCarthy to bring in someone who can take them over the top as soon as possible, with reports linking former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton with taking over.

But according to Jones, that isn’t going to happen.

What’s he said?

Speaking on ESPN’s First Take, he made it as clear as he could that he has faith in McCarthy, starting off by saying that there is nobody out there that he could get that would be better for the Cowboys in his eyes:

Now whilst he may hold those views now, what if this is another bad season for the Cowboys and they only win six games again, will that be seen as enough to keep McCarthy in a job in Jones’ eyes as he holds onto the long-term vision, or is he going to be safe no matter what? 

We’re just going to have to wait until January to find out.