It’s never too early to look at which coaches are on the hot seat. Especially if that seat is as head coach of the Cowboys.
It remains to be seen how much goodwill Jerry Jones has for third-year coach Mike McCarthy, even following Dallas’ 12-5 finish atop the NFC East in 2021. A first-round dud in the playoffs certainly didn’t engender confidence in the former Super Bowl-winning coach, and neither has the start of the 2022 season.
Dallas suffered a 19-3 loss to Tampa Bay in Week 1, becoming the only team that failed to score a touchdown in the opening week. To make matters worse, quarterback Dak Prescott fractured the thumb on his throwing hand and exited AT&T Stadium to boos (and someone throwing trash at him).
It’s clear the loss of offensive pieces such as Tyron Smith, Connor Williams, Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup has impacted Dallas’ firepower this season, even with the team rebounding with backup Cooper Rush to beat the defending AFC champion Bengals in Week 2.
MORE: How Dak Prescott’s hand injury impacts Mike McCarthy’s future with Cowboys
That said, McCarthy will need to see a lot more wins this year — and a deeper run in the playoffs — for him to feel completely comfortable going into 2023 and beyond. Otherwise, Jones may finally turn his rumored interest in former Saints coach Sean Payton into a reality.
Payton has long been tied to the Dallas franchise, not only for leading New Orleans to a victory in Super Bowl 44 — McCarthy led the Packers to a win in Super Bowl 45 — but also his offensive acumen. Jones and McCarthy both have addressed the former’s interest in Payton, but the NFL is a ruthless business.
If McCarthy doesn’t start winning more, and soon, then Jones could make a run at Payton, who has expressed an interest in returning to coaching in 2023.
Will Cowboys fire Mike McCarthy, hire Sean Payton after 2022?
This has long been considered a possibility, one that Jones himself has addressed.
“Let me be real clear: (McCarthy) wouldn’t be sitting here today if I didn’t think he was the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl,” Jones said at the start of training camp. “He would not be, and I have choices. That’s not meant to be insensitive to anybody. That’s a fact.”
The first part of Jones’ statement is an affirmation that his coach has his support. The second part appeared to be a veiled threat that Jones is not so bought in not to consider other coaching candidates.
Indeed, those whispers grew loud enough in the offseason that Jones addressed them directly:
“Sean Payton shouldn’t be out there,” Jones said in June. “For him, the Cowboys, that’s just sheer out of the air. It’s well known we’re good friends and we think a lot of him as a head coach. But in this case, asking the way you’re asking, he shouldn’t be a conversation piece.”
The good news is that McCarthy can take the possibility he’s fired out of Jones’ hands — depending on how the team plays this season.
The bad news is that the Cowboys still will be without Prescott in the short term (though the prognosis is better than initially thought). Moreover, the Eagles have emerged as an early Super Bowl contender out of the NFC East following a 3-0 start behind the strong play of third-year quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The Dallas defense has performed admirably in the first two weeks, with linebacker Micah Parsons (four sacks through two weeks) on an All-Pro pace. But Rush — and, eventually, Prescott — will need to bring the offense up to speed to match the defense.
Mike McCarthy record with Cowboys
McCarthy’s two-plus-year stint in Dallas has been full of ups and downs. The 2020 season, in which the Cowboys went 6-10, was largely considered a lost cause after Prescott suffered a season-ending ankle injury in an Oct. 11 game against the Giants.
Jones exercised patience with McCarthy that season, and was rewarded in 2021 with a fully healthy Prescott, who helped Dallas to a 12-5 season and NFC East championship. But that breakout season was soured during the wild-card round of the playoffs: Dallas lost 23-17 to the 49ers, highlighted by a season-ending play that saw the time run out on the season.
What a way to end the game! #SuperWildCard pic.twitter.com/esKKpbkrQn
— NFL (@NFL) January 17, 2022
MORE: Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy weighs in on Sean Payton rumors: ‘We laughed about it’
Things didn’t look much better to start the 2022 campaign — even in the preseason. The Cowboys had 17 penalties in their preseason opener against the Broncos, a season after leading the NFL with 127 penalties.
Add to that the Cowboys’ early-season struggles, and McCarthy could very well be coaching for his job in 2022.
| Season | Record | Divisional finish | Playoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 6-10 | Third | N/A |
| 2021 | 12-5 | First | Wild-card loss |
| 2022 | 1-1 | Third | TBD |
When will Sean Payton return to coach?
When Payton announced in January he was stepping away from the Saints, he said he would consider a return to coaching in 2023 if the situation was right.
He reiterated that again last week on the “NewOrleans.Football” podcast, saying again he would return to coaching “if the right situation presented itself.”
“And there’s no utopia, if you will, when it comes to teams, but if I felt like it was the right situation, I would have an interest in that,” Payton said. “That all being said, that could come in a year, that could come in two years.”
