Why Mike McCarthy Might Get Fired In ’22-’23
Mike McCarthy is entering his third season as head coach for The Dallas Cowboys. He is coming off a 12-win season, but his seat is definitely getting hot regardless. The standards are high in Dallas, even though they haven’t been to a Super Bowl in almost three decades. McCarthy has done a good job, but this season is probably a make-or-break one for him.
A long-tenured NFL coach is a rarity. There are currently only four coaches in the league who have been at the same job for over a decade. Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, and Pete Carroll are the four. They all share something in common too. Multiple Super Bowl appearances and/or wins. You have to earn tenure like that because it doesn’t just get handed out in the NFL.
An Impatient GM And Fans’ Expectations
An impatient general manager and some fans add more pressure to an already pressure-filled job. That’s part of the reason why, despite 12 wins last season, Mike McCarthy is on the hot seat in Dallas. It’s Super Bowl or bust for a lot of franchises, but especially so for the Cowboys who have been to eight super bowls, and won five of them. That may have been a long time ago, but the sentiment is the same as it was when they were winning Super Bowls. Fans expect it, and more importantly, Jerry Jones expects it also.
Those expectations may seem unreasonable to some, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are there. It’s easy for an outsider to dismiss this idea or just laugh at it. However, if you’ve been a fan for as long as I have then you understand and accept this. Cowboys fans don’t take solace in a good season. Every season without a Super Bowl is a failure in our eyes. Jerry feels the same way, and probably to the tenth power of what we fans feel. The pressure is REAL.
Janet Jackson understands.
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McCarthy Still Hasn’t Won A Playoff Game
Mike McCarthy did guide this team to the playoffs last year. At times they even looked like they might be serious contenders. Unfortunately, though the San Francisco 49ers made them look pedestrian in their playoff matchup. Much to the chagrin of Jerry Jones and the Dallas fans.
The 49ers were the more experienced team, but the game really should have been closer than it was. The Cowboys reverted to their mistake-prone selves and were called for 14 penalties in that game. It felt like all the hard work they had done last season was all for naught.
McCarthy doesn’t call plays, either offensively or defensively. By default that should mean that his main responsibility is to keep the players on the same page, and hold them accountable for things like penalties. Giving up 14 penalties in a playoff game is an indictment of how well he is doing that job. It’s really all on him.
Sean Payton Will Be Available Soon
The fans and it seems like Jerry Jones are already pining for a new relationship. When Sean Payton stepped down from the New Orleans Saints last year, fans got excited. He is the one who got away for a lot of the Dallas fans. As an assistant under Bill Parcells, Sean Payton was exceptional. He left for the Saints, just before Parcells’ last year as head coach. Many of us fans wished the timing would have been better. Payton would have been a seamless replacement for Parcells.
Instead, Payton won a Super Bowl with the once-hapless Saints. It reaffirmed what many fans already knew. This guy is really a great coach. The timing may be an issue again though especially if McCarthy somehow wins a Super Bowl this season.
Some fans have even gone so far as to speculate that’s why the Cowboys had a disappointing off-season. To some of the fans, it simply looks like Jerry Jones is tanking this season. All so he can get Sean Payton next season. I’m not going to speculate on that because only Jerry knows the truth. Anything I say would just be a guess. I do see how two and two would add up here though. It does look a little suspicious on the surface.
So, Mike McCarthy is definitely not in the best position this season. That seat is already burning. It is going to get hotter each day without a doubt.