The Dallas Cowboys went 12-5 and won the NFC East, but a swift exit from the postseason has led to an offseason of questions swirling around head coach Mike McCarthy.
Those interrogations ratcheted up when Sean Payton stepped down from the New Orleans Saints. Most dot-connectors believed the former Super Bowl winner and the long-time apple of owner Jerry Jones' eye would eventually take McCarthy's job.
Despite the seemingly unstable nature of his status, McCarthy told The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday that he's not fretting about his job.
"I never once felt that I was not going to be the head coach moving forward and, frankly, I've been at this long enough that's all I'm focused on," McCarthy said, via the Dallas Morning News. "I'm the leader of this football team, and I'm about winning, and that's all I've ever focused on, and that's all I ever will focus on. ...
"Are these narratives unusual? Absolutely. I've never dealt with anything like this. Do I wish I didn't have to come on here and answer questions about it? Yeah, no doubt about it. I wish we were talking about something else, but it's part of our landscape."
Jones recently caused more speculation regarding McCarthy's future in Dallas. During a Senior Bowl interview two weeks ago, when discussing the return of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as a viable fill-in in the future, Jones noted that McCarthy knows "someday, somebody other than him will be coach of the Cowboys."
Those aren't exactly words of encouragement, but McCarthy called his relationship with Jones "excellent."
"We talked about it," McCarthy said of Jones' comment. "We talked about Dan's situation, definitely, and about Sean Payton's narrative also. The gist of the conversation is you, and I are in this back-to-back, it's a partnership and just focus on what we need to do moving forward. He made some personal comments about how he feels about it, but that's really for him and I. I'm very, very comfortable with our relationship and our dialogue. At the end of the day, we both want the same thing, and it's to win a world championship. The narratives are unusual, but at the end of the day, you've got to trust the relationships and the communications and the connections you have in our leadership group."
McCarthy admitted that narrative suggesting Quinn stayed in Dallas to take his job eventually might have irked him in the past, but the best thing for the 2022 Cowboys is the return of the defensive coordinator who helped turn around a previously struggling unit.
"Dan Quinn being here was very important to me and our organization, McCarthy said. "Dan and I had visited long before he ever took a head coach interview, frankly long before the playoffs even started about how happy he is here. ...
"Obviously, when he took the interview and this narrative broke out, in a reflection of the relationship that Dan and I do have, he just said 'hey, man. I'm not comfortable with this narrative. If you really feel like I need to take one of these jobs, just be honest,.' And we kind of laughed about it and I just said 'Dan, 10-12 years ago, I'd tell you to please get the hell out of here, I don't want to deal with this.' But the reality of it is I'm about winning, he's about winning and the best thing for the Cowboys is for Dan Quinn to be here."
One thing is certain: The rumors surrounding McCarthy's future won't die down in the coming and anything short of the Cowboys hoisting a Lombardi Trophy next February will only ratchet up that heat.
