The brutal truth about Dak, McCarthy, Belichick, the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones

With tears in his eyes, Osa Odighizuwa sat in his locker with Dan Quinn’s right arm on his shoulder consoling him.

The Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle was in a level of disbelief, the same as his quarterback, Dak Prescott, who sat across the room talking to his friend, backup quarterback Cooper Rush.

Having been the head coach of a team that blew the biggest lead in the history of the Super Bowl, at least Quinn, the Cowboys defensive coordinator at the moment, is familiar with “football shock.” He knows life goes on.

By the time the locker room was open after the Cowboys’ playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, most of the regulars had high tailed it to the offseason. Other than a few, they didn’t want to discuss the particulars of their latest gag.

On Monday, the Cowboys opened their locker room at The Star in Frisco, and “The Triplets” took the heat for the team: returner KaVontae Turpin, offensive lineman T.J. Bass and defensive back Jourdan Lewis.

With podcasts, Instagram, and a fleet of team-run plus “broadcast partner” outlets, it’s easy to duck anything other than, “Talk about your journey to greatness” questions. It’s a different era, and the days of having to answer questions such as, “How did a 9-8 Green Bay team come to your house and nearly hang 50 on you?” are declining.

Because they don’t have to, and they know it.

Awkward questions aside, there are so many hard, ugly and uncomfortable truths for all of them to confront, and they all know it. If they don’t, they will here in about a month. Life comes at you fast, but the sudden end to an NFL season is a 2 x 4 to the ego, heart, brains ‘n’ butt.

In the immediate seconds, minutes and hours after this historically awful loss, the reaction is to put every Cowboy and Jones on a one-way flight to the center of the sun. To fire Mike McCarthy, hire Bill Belichick, cut Dak Prescott and find a new quarterback.

Because this mess makes Chernobyl look easy.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy

Jason Garrett elevated the Cowboys past the “Wade Phillips Standard,” which was good enough to flirt with, and every other year, make the playoffs. Nothing more.

In four years, McCarthy has pushed the Cowboys a tick up the “Mediocre Meter,” beyond .500. Nothing more.

The Cowboys are 1-3 in the playoffs under McCarthy; the one win was in the 2022 wildcard round at Tampa, which turned out to be the final game of Tom Brady’s career.

The Cowboys have finished 12-5 and made the playoffs in each of the past three years under McCarthy, a feat this franchise has not reached in 25 years.

McCarthy has one year remaining on his contract, and how do you fire all of this? After his team played like a Pop Warner group on Sunday, how do you say, “Run it back!”

Dallas Cowboys ‘head coach’ Bill Belichick

NFL “people” insist that the now ex-Pat believes he can work with the Jones family to coach the Cowboys. Every single “big ego” coach is convinced that he can convince Jerry to do whatever he wants, and usually they’re right. Until they’re not.

See also, Bill Parcells and Terrell Owens. Or, Greg Hardy with Jason Garrett.

Jerry is the final say of the Cowboys, and at some point every coach is reminded who is ultimately in charge. It’s not the coach.

Belichick is 71, and given zero indication he wants to retire. He is essentially a free agent, meaning the Cowboys could hire him without giving the Patriots compensation.

Also, he won’t bring Tom Brady.

Without Brady as his quarterback, Belichick’s record is 82-98. With Brady, Belichick is 249-75 with six Super Bowl wins.

Dumping Dak

Immediately after the loss, Dak took ownership of all of it. He knew he had played horribly again, and there was no spin.

Since he entered the league as a rookie in 2016, the Cowboys are 73-41 with Dak as the starting quarterback. He’s amassed a slew of individual achievements, and he will be an MVP finalist this season.

He has a no trade clause, and his salary cap number for 2024 is $59.5 million. He also has a clause that prevents the Cowboys from using the franchise tag on him in 2025.

The Cowboys are married to him, which is fine until you look at the playoffs. The Cowboys are 2-5 with Dak in the playoffs, where he has seven interceptions with 14 touchdown passes.

They’re not cutting him. They’re not trading him.

He turns 31 in July, and you need to prepare yourself that Dak Prescott is the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback for the next two years. At least.

A new Cowboys defensive coordinator

This change is coming, as Dan Quinn is expected to move on despite the fact that his defense was trashed by the Packers.

Quinn is expected to interview with the Seahawks, Titans, Panthers, Chargers and Commanders for their respective head coaching jobs. Expect him to land one of those.

And the Cowboys “big change” this offseason will be a new assistant coach, or two, and a new defensive coordinator.

There is no way around the reality that the Cowboys are stuck between Good and Not Nearly Good Enough.

Given the regular-season success, making minor alterations is justifiable.

But, considering this team and its history, “Let’s run it back” is fireable.