ARLINGTON, Texas – Everything was in place for the Dallas Cowboys to have a strong postseason run and end the franchise's drought of playoff appearances without reaching the conference championship game.
The Cowboys entered the postseason for the third straight season with a record of 12-5. They were the No. 2 seed in the NFC and had the highest-scoring offense in the NFL (29.9 points per game). Dak Prescott led the NFL in touchdown passes (36), CeeDee Lamb led the league in receptions (135) and had the league's only perfect record at home (8-0). None of that mattered on Sunday night against the 7th-seeded Green Bay Packers, as Green Bay advanced to the NFC divisional round with a 48-32 win.
“I'm focused on the fact that I thought we were capable, everyone in this room believed we were capable, of advancing in the playoffs and maybe going as far as our dreams could take us.” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after the game. “This is one of my biggest surprises since I started playing sports, period… I know how disappointed everyone is.”
Dallas finished the regular season with a dominant +172 point lead at AT&T Stadium in the regular season, making it seem inconceivable that they would fall to the NFC's bottom team. Instead, they became owners of the largest regular-season home point, the difference made by a team in NFL history by losing its playoff opener at home. They trailed longer (52 minutes, 8 seconds) than they had in all eight regular season home games combined, an NFL-low 44 minutes, 36 seconds. The juxtaposition between the Cowboys' performance all year and what they did on the field against the Packers in the postseason left Jones reeling, calling that stumble the most painful playoff loss in his 35 years of playing owned and managed the team.
“That seems to be the most painful because we all had such high expectations and hope for this team,” Jones said. “I thought we would be well coordinated and in top form, but that didn't happen for us. … I know where responsibility begins and ends. I understood that very clearly. But that is not the point. The point is that I'm disappointed in everyone.
The 48 points Green Bay scored are the most the Cowboys have ever allowed in a postseason game, so naturally questions will arise as to how that happened.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” Jones said. “Actually you could have told me if we had scored 32 points, but we all know how we got them and when we got them, but if you had told me we would get 32 points, I thought we would have won it. So, a lot of things to think about, but I didn't do that at all, and I didn't think about anything about the coach or anything like that. We're amazed that we're sitting here next weekend without another game.”
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The most pressing issue for Jones to think about is the status of head coach Mike McCarthy. Dallas has posted at least 12 wins three straight seasons under head coach Mike McCarthy after going 12-5 every year since 2021. This is the second time in franchise history this has happened, joining the Cowboys' 1990s dynasty from 1992-1995 in which they won three Super Bowls in four seasons. McCarthy is the first Cowboys head coach to accomplish this feat.
However, McCarthy's Cowboys also became the first team to win twelve games in three consecutive seasons, never reaching the conference championship in any of them. Jones feels no pressure to make an immediate decision on McCarthy, despite a number of current high-profile candidates like Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel, to name a few. Jones said he doesn't know when he will sit down with McCarthy to fully review the 2023 season.
“The only thing I'm feeling right now is the fact that we're not moving forward this week, and I haven't thought about that,” Jones said. “I know how to do it and deal with all of that. These are not high-pressure situations, coach. I give today a lot of weight (in this decision-making process). I'm going to put a lot of effort into everything we do.” “That's what I did (in the regular season). I weigh it in many ways.”
Jones allowed Jason Garrett to coach ten seasons and nine full campaigns without reaching an NFC title game. He admitted that this strategy did not work.
“I don’t know, but I know we didn’t get a Super Bowl,” Jones said. “As it turned out, what I was doing at the time didn’t work. So we’ll look at it from that perspective.”
McCarthy simply expressed frustration and disappointment at the loss when asked about his future professional status.
“I think the biggest thing is, you know, we're disappointed,” McCarthy said after the game. “I have a whole team in the locker room that is hurting. I didn’t think beyond the outcome of that game.”
Prescott, who became the first quarterback in Cowboys history to lead the NFL in passing touchdowns and posted a 105.9 passer rating in 2023, the highest of his career, took over as head coach after the game. He is expected to have a cap hit of $59.5 million in 2024, the second-highest in the NFL, behind only Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson's $64 million. He threw two interceptions, including a 64-yard pick-six, and three touchdowns in garbage time after the team fell behind 27-0 in the second quarter. He finished the game with 403 yards on 41 of 60 passes.
“He (McCarthy) was great,” Prescott said after the game. “I don't know how they can be, but I understand the business. In this case it should also be about me. I had the season I had because of him. This team had the success.” They got that because of him. I understand that it's about winning the Super Bowl. That's the standard of this league and damn sure the standard of this place. I get it, but in this case add me to the list.”
Prescott's teammate and 2023 Second Team All-Pro left guard Tyler Smith said her facial injury on Sunday had nothing to do with the way he and his staff prepared her during the week.
“I love Coach McCarthy,” Smith said after the game. “I think we did everything we could do. He was immediately attentive to us in terms of preparation “We didn't change anything, didn't try to do anything crazy. We stayed with ourselves. Today they (the Packers) just played better football.”