Everyone remembers the one that got away.

From the girl next door to the job offer with the bad timing, hindsight can be cruel as much as it can be educational. For the Dallas Cowboys, Sean Peyton is often seen as the head coach that got away. Once a Cowboys offensive coordinator under Bill Parcells, Payton was seen as the next great coach in Cowboys lore. As luck would have it, Parcells stayed on one year too long and Payton jumped ship one year too early, essentially killing the dream.

Looking at the current situation in Dallas, it’s difficult not to think about what could have been once again. Over the past 13 months the Cowboys had a few desirable coaches on their staff and if they would have played things differently, they could have had considerably different setup today.

After losing to Green Bay in the playoffs in the most embarrassing way possible one year ago, many believed McCarthy was a lock to get fired. The team was ill-prepared, unfocused and unmotivated. It was an indictment on a head coach that throughout his time in Dallas couldn’t win a postseason game against a team with a winning record.

If the Cowboys would have fired McCarthy after that Packers loss, Dallas probably could have had Dan Quinn as their head coach in 2024. Not only that, dumping McCarthy would have unchained Brian Schottenheimer as the offensive coordinator. McCarthy never let Schottenheimer call plays during their time together and it was generally viewed as McCarthy’s offense through and through.

Instead, the Cowboys stuck with McCarthy one more season, opening the door to Quinn’s departure and empowering the NFC East rival Commanders to complete one of the NFL’s biggest franchise turnarounds.

There is an alternate reality in 2025 as well. Let’s say the Cowboys stuck with McCarthy and 2024 unfolded just as it did. But instead of elevating Schottenheimer to head coach, the Cowboys elevated Mike Zimmer instead.

Zimmer was making headway on the Dallas defense in his one year as defensive coordinator. He survived a litany of injuries and instilled discipline in a notoriously undisciplined unit. It stands to reason with a healthy roster and a couple new pieces, the Cowboys defense could bounce back to elite ranks in no time.

Much like the Quinn example a year prior, elevating the defensive coordinator to head coach wouldn’t necessarily run Schottenheimer out of town. Schottenheimer wanted to call plays and by most accounts wasn’t a high demand coaching prospect this winter. It stands to reason simply offering him control of the offense would be enough to keep him on board for the foreseeable future.

In this scenario the Cowboys could have elevated fan favorite Al Harris to take over as Zimmer’s defensive coordinator or even brought in the current coordinator Matt Eberflus. It would still be Zimmer’s defense but would add additional coaching talent to franchise.

In both scenarios Schottenheimer is running the offense it’s just the defense that’s in different hands. Theoretically the Cowboys could have had their cake and eaten it too.

Maybe all things worked out for the best.

Quinn got his chance to pull a franchise up from the dirt and the Cowboys dodged a coach whose postseason ended in another defensive meltdown.

Zimmer wasn’t the most daring head coach in Minnesota so maybe he wouldn’t be a great option for the Cowboys. Based on possible gained win percentage, his fourth-down decision making finished in the middle of the pack (one spot worse than the Cowboys from 2014-2021) and he might have put Schottenheimer under his thumb as so many of Schottenheimer’s coaches had done in the past.

It’s impossible to know how things would have turned out but it’s interesting to look back and envision how things could have been.

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