Mike McCarthy will remain as head coach of Dallas Cowboys after loss to Packers in playoffs

Former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy will remain as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for the 2024 season after the Green Bay Packers came to AT&T Stadium and eliminated the Cowboys in lopsided fashion on Sunday, 48-32.

McCarthy, who led the Packers to the Super Bowl championship after the 2010 season, became just the second coach to match up in the playoffs against a franchise he previously led to a Super Bowl title. Coincidentally, the other is Mike Holmgren, who led the Packers to a Super Bowl title in 1996 and then faced Green Bay in the playoffs twice as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

The Packers beat the Seahawks both times on those occasions and are 3-0 against their Super Bowl-winning ex-coaches.

McCarthy, who was fired as Packers coach late in the 2018 season and took the Dallas job in 2020, has led Cowboys to three consecutive 12-5 seasons but gone 1-3 in the playoffs, leading to many questions about his future in the role. The Cowboys haven't been back to the NFC championship game since beating the Packers in 1995.

"I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. "There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress under Mike's leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike's approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our past season goals. Certainly, Mike's career has demonstrated post season success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue."

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who became the first Cowboys quarterback to lead the league in touchdown passes this season, praised McCarthy effusively after the loss to Green Bay.

"Further, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy," Jones wrote. "Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we're all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals."

In 17 seasons as head coach, McCarthy's teams have won double-digit games 11 times. He's 11-11 in the playoffs and coached the Packers to four NFC championship games.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mike McCarthy remains as Cowboys head coach after Packers loss