There's not enough ink in the well to describe how many hurdles Mike McCarthy has been forced to try and overcome in his inaugural season with the Dallas Cowboys. His scheduled April 6 offseason start -- two weeks prior to clubs that did not change head coaches -- was deleted by the initial COVID-19 spike, and from there he lost minicamp (both rookie and veteran) and the entire preseason, having only a truncated and distanced training camp in which to glue everything together in short order. Needless to say, it led to a slow start to the season, one that has since been long derailed by a slew of injuries to cornerstone players like two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott, along with a list of other starters.
That said, some of McCarthy's wounds are self-inflicted in the team's 4-10 season, having finally landed their fourth win in downing the lowly Cincinnati Bengals in Week 14 and just barely remaining in the playoff equation. From unwise decisions that included refusing to flex perennial All-Pro guard Zack Martin to right tackle to patch protection issues, and labeling such a move as "fantasy football" before ultimately doing it weeks later, to the choice of Mike Nolan as defensive coordinator and some strange in-game calls -- there are some wondering if McCarthy himself is the right man for the job.
Time will tell if he is or is not, but that's exactly what he'll be given: time.
As CBS Sports reported ahead of their Week 14 matchup with the Bengals, while Nolan himself is on a scorching hot seat going into the offseason that will likely see a move made in one way or another, McCarthy is completely safe heading into Year 2. On Monday, team exec Stephen Jones confirmed the report, and hammered home his belief that McCarthy will get the Cowboys where they need to be.
"Absolutely no change with Coach McCarthy, and I am surprised that someone would question," Jones told 105.3FM the Fan. "Mike -- these unprecedented situations that everyone's been in on top of that. No one is making excuses, but we have had some real challenges in the injury category. If you look at his track record and his pedigree, he's consistently won, year in and year out.
"We have the utmost confidence that this ship is going to be righted quickly, and Mike is going to be the leader of this group. He's certainly a great head coach and I think we're going to see that going forward. He's a great head coach in this league, he's accomplished a lot, and he's going to accomplish a lot more before it's all said-and-done."
McCarthy inked a five-year deal with the Cowboys in January, following the team's divorce from longtime head coach Jason Garrett, and it makes complete sense the organization would -- at worst -- grant him a mulligan in 2021. Not only are there massive financial ramifications to consider, but also the aforementioned issues that were out of anyone's control. And while issues with players' effort has been a growing concern, it's been relegated primarily to the defensive side of the ball, where things derailed long ago under Nolan. Expect some changes by the Cowboys in 2021, but not atop the coaching pyramid.
McCarthy's seat is ice cold, but the same can't be said for some of the defensive minds he brought in -- after a historically bad showing in 2020.
