Bad And Serious Nightmare For Dallas Coach

A terrible night for Mike McCarthy and the 49ers’ demoralising defeat for Dak Prescott’s job security

Following their 42-10 drubbing in San Francisco, the Dallas Cowboys have a lot to learn and areas for improvement. However, it is only fair that the focus be on these important players and how they let the team down against the 49ers in a year when head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott were hot off the pitch.

Both McCarthy and Prescott have undoubtedly had general success in their roles. Since taking over as head coach, McCarthy has won 60% of the regular season games—or 69% if 2020 is excluded. In the last two years, he has guided Dallas to a division title and two straight postseason trips.

Similar results have been achieved by Prescott, who has won 63% of his games since moving to

2016. In his seven years, the Cowboys have won three division crowns and advanced to the playoffs four times. By several basic and advanced criteria, he has occasionally posted huge figures while maintaining excellent efficiency overall.
It’s not what these guys do on a weekly basis that causes issues. However, the Cowboys could have stayed with Jason Garrett if they had been content with regular-season victories and the sporadic box of NFC East Champions caps. They could start Cooper Rush at quarterback and save a tonne of money.

The intention behind hiring Mike McCarthy was to break the Cowboys out of Garrett’s mould. It was expected that by giving Dak Prescott a huge salary, you would avoid being taken advantage of by the NFC elite. Indeed, both have had

their times. It was awesome to force Tom Brady’s ageing bones into retirement last year! It’s enjoyable to routinely defeat the Eagles during the regular season. If these guys were complete failures, they wouldn’t be around anymore.

But what happened on Sunday just can’t keep happening. The 49ers are legit, no doubt. And sometimes, certain teams just have your number and are a horrible matchup. But Dallas never looked right from the opening snap on either side of the ball. It was a team-wide letdown from QB1 all the way down the depth chart, which is just as damning for McCarthy, Dan Quinn, Brian Schottenheimer, and everyone who was charged with getting these guys ready for a big test.

Yes, the Cowboys are still 3-2 and on pace to make the playoffs. But this game, coupled with the ugly Week 3 loss in Arizona, says that Dallas is still a second-tier squad in the NFC. Even that might be generous right now; the Lions, Bucs, and Seahawks probably don’t lose to the Cardinals or let the 49ers embarrass them the way the Cowboys did.

Again, moving on from Jason Garrett and committing to Dak Prescott were supposedly about finally doing something bigger. No more participation trophies, bronze medals, or even silver. McCarthy and Prescott were supposed to be the foundation of a championship team, and right now Dallas can’t even win its own division.

For some, the frustration with McCarthy goes all the way back to the initial hire in 2020. If you are of the mind that McCarthy was a decent coach who was lucky to have Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers most of his career, days like we just had validate that perception. And in the same breath, it’s a reminder that Prescott isn’t one of those elite quarterbacks and could ultimately hinder the Cowboys from their one true goal.

After Week 2 and consecutive blowout wins over the New York teams, we discussed how a seemingly special defense could carry Dallas this year. But in two of the last three games, Dan Quinn’s crew have struggled. Losing Trevon Diggs hurt but it doesn’t explain how ineffective they’ve been overall, especially against the Cardinals.

The pressure now shifts back to the offense, with a $40 million quarterback and a supposed offensive expert as head coach and the play-caller. This team needs to be balanced, not just between both sides of the ball but in how they perform week to week. You can blow out all of the NFL bottom-feeders you want, but those wins won’t help you in the playoffs. If anything, they seem to have made this team think they’re something they’re not.

Now it’s on all of them, especially Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott, to respond to a huge reality check. Some might have thrown out the Arizona loss due to the Diggs injury, missing offensive linemen, and a general “trap game” scenario. But what happened in San Francisco was inexcusable. It was a sign that the Cowboys are farther away from contention than we hoped and that McCarthy and Prescott may not be the guys to help us close the gap.

There’s plenty of season left and, hopefully, the playoffs to make it all better. But if this is how Dallas is going to perform when the NFL elite come up on the schedule, the reset button is going to start flashing brighter and brighter.