Will the third time to have a HC on last yr of a contract be different?

Mike McCarthy will be the third Cowboys head coach in the last 14 years to enter a season on the final year of his contract. In the two previous times it happened, the HC was either fired in mid-season or just not renewed again. Also, the two previous times this happened, the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs.

Reviewing the two previous examples:

• 2010 Season with Wade Phillips. Much like McCarthy this year, going into the 2010 season, Wade Phillips had seen his 2009 team get embarrassed by the Vikings in divisional round game 34-3. In 2007 under Wade the #1 seed Cowboys lost in divisional round to the giants 21-17. The Cowboys started the 2010 season 1-5 with Tony Romo before he broke his collarbone in October. Then the team just quit on Phillips and Jerry fired him after 1-7 start. Of course we did not make the playoffs. The age of Garrett followed.
• 2019 Season with Jason Garrett. This was the final season with Jason Garrett and in his near decade long tenure with Dallas, we only made the playoffs 3 times. In the previous season with Garrett in 2018, the team did win the NFC east, won a WC game vs the seahawks but got manhandled by the rams 30-22 when the rams rushed for over 250 yards. Garrett was allowed to finish his last year of his contract in 2019, but the team went 8-8 and did not qualify for the playoffs. Garrett was just allowed to walk at season’s end (thankfully, lol) As a side note, the man Jerry said would be scooped up in a moment’s notice as a HC has never been hired again as a HC…at any level.

So as we head into 2024, Big Mac is hanging over a cliff with a roster on paper that appears to be less talented than last year’s squad. And he has a division winner’s first place schedule this year. If this team has a rough start, this could quickly turn into another 2010 season with a firing. I hope not.

And I sincerely believe – this is a bad way to handle a head coach. IMO it would have been better to fire McCarthy after last January’s humiliating playoff loss to GB. It was the worst playoff loss in Cowboys history. It is extremely hard to just block that mental memory out and move on. This team better have a roaringly good start or the seat gets scorching for Mac’s behind.