Mike McCarthy enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and boasts an impressive record of 42-25. He's also coming off his third-straight 12-win campaign. Despite this success, McCarthy enters the year as a lame-duck coach with no contract security.
There were rumors the Cowboys could move on from McCarthy this offseason after another embarrassing playoff loss. He's now 1-3 in the postseason, losing twice in the Wild Card Round.
That lack of playoff success is why team owner Jerry Jones let McCarthy play out the final year of his deal.
If the Cowboys continue to fall flat in the postseason, there's a real chance Jones decides to move on. He should have no shortage of suitors, but as was the case when he hired McCarthy, don't be shocked if the net he casts isn't very wide. Jones will again focus on coaches who have proven themselves in the past, which is why Bill Belichick remains the prime candidate if the position becomes vacant.
This topic has often been discussed during the offseason, and now Mike Poland and Dana Bartholomew of Blogging the Boys have brought it back to the surface. In answering a reader mailbag, they both said Belichick makes the most sense as a stop-gap hire.
He’s out of work, been tied to the Cowboys in the past and would be that typical high upside stop-gap type hiring to try and plug the roster and make a success out of it.;
- Mike Poland, Blogging the Boys
It's impossible to argue against Belichick's resume. He has 302 wins against 165 losses in his career and is 31-13 in the postseason with six Super Bowl wins.
Having said that, he's 72 years old and had just one winning season over the past four years. That means that, without Tom Brady, he has three winning seasons under his belt in 29 years as a head coach. This includes the year Brady tore his ACL and Matt Cassell led them to a winning record.
A move for Belichick might be the most popular option, but it makes little sense and could lead to a setback. But that doesn't mean it won't happen, and we surely haven't heard the last of it.
