National Football League

Nick Wright: Keeping Mike McCarthy shows where Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' priorities lie

Published Jan. 18, 2024 9:31 p.m. ET

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Despite an ugly and shocking 48-32 upset loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs last weekend, the Dallas Cowboys are bringing back head coach Mike McCarthy for another year, team owner/general manager Jerry Jones announced Wednesday evening.

McCarthy led the Cowboys to a 12-5 regular-season record for the third straight year, but with accomplished head-coaching candidates like Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel available, many believed it was an opportune time for Jones to ditch McCarthy and bring in a different head coach to lead a talented Cowboys roster to the franchise's first Super Bowl since the 1995 season.

Nick Wright is one of those people. And after Jones announced McCarthy's return for 2024, Wright had some choice words on Thursday's edition of "First Things First."

"I no longer believe Jerry Jones' No. 1 goal is winning a Super Bowl," Wright said. "I believe Jerry Jones would like to win a Super Bowl, but I believe Jerry Jones' number one goal is to be the face, the voice and have full control of the Dallas Cowboys. 

"There is no other realistic explanation for [keeping McCarthy]. This is not a typical coaching market. This is a coaching market that has the greatest coach of all time [Belichick] available, that has a really good — in his coaching prime, if you will — coach in Mike Vrabel available, that has one of the only coaches we've ever seen succeed in the collegiate and pro level [Harbaugh] available. By the way, two of the only other ones who have did it, did it for your Dallas Cowboys, so you know that model can work."

Wright was referring to Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, who both led the Cowboys to Super Bowl titles in the 1990s after success in college football at Miami and Oklahoma, respectively. Johnson, the current NFL on FOX analyst who helped Jones rebuild the Cowboys in the late 1980s, was recently inducted to the team's ring of honor after a long feud between Johnson and his old college friend Jones thawed in recent years.

Jimmy Johnson is FIRED UP about the Cowboys' lackluster first half against the Packers

Since Johnson's departure from the Cowboys, Jones' relationship with head coaches has constantly been heavily scrutinized. But Jones has been patient in recent years — former Cowboys backup quarterback Jason Garrett was the team's head coach from 2011-2019 despite several similar playoff letdowns, and McCarthy has enjoyed steady vocal support from the outspoken Jones since his hiring in early 2020.

But in Wright's view, the quality of candidates currently available should have forced Jones' hand if he truly prioritized winning above all.

[Related: 2024 NFL coaching tracker: News, rumors, personnel changes]

"You have known commodities out there," Wright said. "And you keep saying that how desperately you want to win. If there was ever a time — and I haven't even mentioned [ex-Seahawks coach] Pete Carroll, who by the way is a known quality head coach."

Mike McCarthy on Cowboys: ‘We’ve established a championship program’

It's also worth noting McCarthy is one of the few NFL coaches with a Super Bowl title on his résumé, having won one with the Packers in 2010. But in the nine trips McCarthy-coached teams have made to the playoffs since then, they reached a conference championship game just twice more and have been upset by lower playoff seeds several times in what Wright says is a trend that extends back over a dozen years.

[Vacchiano: Keeping Mike McCarthy was Cowboys' best move — like it or not]

"It is not about the singular playoff loss [on Sunday]," Wright said. "The Dallas Cowboys have now lost home playoff games to Jimmy Garoppolo … and Jordan Love. Jordan might be [great] but it was his first playoff start."

"We saw him go 15-1 and get blown out at home in Green Bay [in 2011]. We saw him blow a two-score lead with two minutes left in a conference championship game [in 2014]. … We've seen all these things throughout his career. That's why it's so concerning."

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