Stephen Jones says Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy’s fate will be decided after season final

With one game left in the Dallas Cowboys season, all the attention is turning to the fate of coach Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy entered the season on the hot seat in the last year of his contract with the charge of getting to at least the NFC title game, if not the Super Bowl, to guarantee his return in 2025.

The Cowboys have decidedly backed up in 2024. At 7-9 heading into Sunday’s season final against the Washington Commanders, McCarthy is guaranteed his second losing season in five at the helm of the Cowboys.

He went 6-10 in 2020 followed by three straight 12-5 seasons.

That the Cowboys remained competitive during an injury-marred 2024 has not only fostered talk about owner Jerry Jones bringing him back but McCarthy being looked as candidate for other jobs.

Vice president Stephen Jones said the team will make a decision on McCarthy’s future after the season final against Washington.

“We’ll address all this after the Commanders game,” Jones said on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan.

But Jones said he is not surprised that McCarthy might have other suitors.

“It doesn’t surprise me a bit, Mike’s an established head coach in this league. He’s won a Super Bowl and been to multiple championship games,” Jones said. Obviously, we had a tough start with the Covid year and followed that up with three 12-win seasons. And this year’s been a challenge for the obvious reasons with injuries.”

Quarterback Dak Prescott said Sunday night that he plans to lobby the Cowboys front office to keep McCarthy around.