The McCarthy Chronicles: Cowboys head coach likely just saved his job

Regardless of these last two games, Mike McCarthy has nothing left to prove to the Dallas Cowboys.

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. The Dallas Cowboys were supposed to crash and burn, the locker room would turn on each other, players would quit on their lame duck coach and make early plans for their beach vacations in January while coaching interviews get under way.

That’s exactly where things were headed at the start of November, when the Cowboys were in the midst of what turned out to be a five-game losing streak that saw Dak Prescott go down for the season. He was the latest, and most prominent, veteran leader to spend significant time on the injured reserve. On top of it all, a postgame incident with Trevon Diggs hinted that the walls were about to crumble in Dallas.

Then, something clicked. The Cowboys went on the road and beat the Washington Commanders, who at one point looked like the frontrunner in the division. They returned home for Thanksgiving and crushed the Giants. Now, after back-to-back wins against the Panthers and Buccaneers, the team has improved to 7-8 and are one crazy play away from looking at a five-game win streak.

The most recent win was the best, too. Tampa Bay came in as winners of four straight and, after the Falcons won earlier in the day, they knew they needed this game to remain in the driver’s seat of the NFC South. Meanwhile, Dallas watched the Commanders beat the Eagles at the last second, thereby ending the Cowboys’ slim chances at reaching the postseason.

They hadn’t even had a chance to play their game this week, and the Cowboys’ post-season chance was officially ended. Some teams would’ve let that get to them. Some teams would have come out flat and gotten crushed by the vastly superior team. Shoot, most Cowboys teams of the last two decades would’ve done that.

This team is different, though. They’ve been dealt adversity from the moment last year ended. Every single day brings a new conversation about their head coach, while injuries and losses have both stacked up over and over. They’ve been through the ringer, but somehow they’ve come out on the other side stronger for it. The team took the field on Sunday night with nothing to gain, so they took their anger out on the Buccaneers instead.

It’s been a long time since we saw a Cowboys team play like this. No longer was it about “getting right” or pushing for a playoff spot to climb the mountain that is nearly three decades of playoff disappointment for this franchise. This was about a love of the game, going out there and playing good football for 60 minutes just because that’s what professionals do.

It was a direct reflection of the way McCarthy carries himself, and the most resounding endorsement this team could possibly give their embattled head coach. Cooper Rush arguably had the best game of his career, CeeDee Lamb showed a level of toughness never seen before, and defenders just kept making play after play no matter what.

Some will look at this win, which did nothing to get them closer to the playoffs and only hurt their draft positioning, and say it was a mistake. But the intangible impact this kind of win has on the culture has massive implications. Take Lamb, for example, who had this to say after the game:

Lamb earned plenty of criticism earlier this year for a perceived lack of toughness, some of which was at least somewhat warranted. But there is no way to make such a claim now, as Lamb has played through excruciating pain and played at a high level even knowing there are no playoffs to be made anymore. Micah Parsons had similar comments after the win:

Of course, Parsons made history in this game too, becoming the fifth-fastest player to reach 50 career sacks. After the game, though, his comments were focused on continuing this momentum and building a solid foundation for next season.

With Prescott out, as well as DeMarcus Lawrence and Zack Martin – not to mention the offseason losses of Tyron Smith, Leighton Vander Esch, and Stephon Gilmore – there was a bit of a leadership vacuum on this roster. Lamb and Parsons have stepped up over the last month, which is great news considering their status as the future of this team. That kind of development is more valuable for the Cowboys than any draft pick.

It all comes back to McCarthy, too. His steady leadership, even in the face of what so many assumed to be his final season in Dallas, provided a calming presence in the face of so much turmoil. It’s not easy to tune out the noise in a season like this, or any season in Dallas, but McCarthy has continually had his team focused and ready to play. Whether or not they can play spoiler to the Eagles or Commanders over these last two weeks, McCarthy has proven everything he could at this point.