Mike McCarthy has one last chance, Jerry Jones’ decision came with a clear message attached

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Mike McCarthy may be returning as Dallas Cowboys head coach next season, but his margin for error is razor-thin.

It surprised many when owner Jerry Jones decided to honour the remaining year of his contract.

That news came just days after the Cowboys were humiliated by the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, a team McCarthy led to a Super Bowl during the 2010 campaign.

Many fans and pundits may not be happy to see McCarthy return, but for what it’s worth he didn’t get an extension.

That should serve as a message to the 60-year-old not to get too comfortable.

Short Leash

With McCarthy’s contract ending at the end of the 2024 season, the onus will be for him to make a Super Bowl run.

In my view, it’s a clear message from Jones that he needs McCarthy to get more out of this team.

That means making it to at least the conference championship but ideally further.

Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons and the co can keep having career years, but it won’t matter without playoff success.

Winning 12 games in each of his last three seasons, Jones knows McCarthy can make this team successful.

While I don’t buy into the theory that there are lousy playoff coaches, the bottom line is if Dallas can’t have postseason success, the sword should fall on McCarthy.

What happens to his current defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, will be especially interesting.

He’s interviewing for numerous head coaching positions, but nothing’s official.

If he doesn’t land a head coaching job he may be back in Big D.

If that’s the case, he might be in the role of the vice president of a country.

That means Quinn might have to step in for McCarthy at a moment’s notice if the Cowboys start the season slowly.

Jones was adamant that they need to win now and if they don’t start the season well I wouldn’t be surprised if McCarthy was fired.

Given Quinn’s past head coaching success, they could bring him in and be confident he could steer the ship back on course.

Added Incentive

Bringing a coach back without an extension is a tactic we’ve seen Jones employ in the past.

McCarthy’s predecessor, Jason Garrett, found himself in a similar situation during his Cowboys tenure.

After four years as Dallas’ head coach, Garrett knew his contract would expire at the end of 2014.

In that final year, Garrett led the Cowboys to a 12-4 record and the #1 seed in the NFC, losing in the Divisional Round to McCarthy’s Packers.

The standards probably weren’t as high for Garrett at that time though as they are for his successor.

Garrett hadn’t made the playoffs before the last year of his contract and in-turn earning an extension.

He wound up coaching the Cowboys until 2019, winning one of his first three playoff games and finishing with a postseason record of 2-5.

While Garrett got numerous contract extensions between 2014 and his dismissal, McCarthy won’t have the same luxuries if he struggles in the playoffs.