In Dan Lyon’s “Dan Orlovsky Lists Mike McCarthy Miscues, Says Cowboys Should Fire Coach” article, he said that Stephen Jones, the Dallas Cowboys executive vice president and son of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, has confidence that Head Coach Mike McCarthy will return next season. The Hall of Fame owner and five-time Super Bowl winner has not assured this.

After a losing 6-10 record in 2020, McCarthy helped the Cowboys make the playoffs this year with an impressive 12-5 record in his just his second year with the team. However, McCarthy’s clout among some sports figures is lacking. These figures have questioned calls he’s made this season, with some feeling the Cowboys should move on.

In his article, Lyons shares key points Orlovsky highlighted throughout the season in which McCarthy made bad calls.

In the week two Los Angeles Chargers game, McCarthy showed an issue with clock management. These problems were also present in the week three Philadelphia Eagles, week six New England Patriots, and week 17 Arizona Cardinals matchups. From these situations the Cowboys would only lose to the Cardinals. In the most important game of the season though, the playoff matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys also lost.

By now, all of football knows about the controversial last call at the end of the 49ers game. Prescott ran a play designed for him to run the ball in the last seconds of the game with no timeouts left instead of being given Hail Mary tries. Former Cowboys Quarterback Troy Aikman pointed out something else too.

The three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Famer had a problem with the game plan the Cowboys used against the 49ers. Specifically, Darreck Kirby shares Aikman’s disappoint in the misuse of Cowboys young star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in his article, “Troy Aikman critical of Cowboys not using CeeDee Lamb in the 49ers playoff game: ‘The game is not that difficult.’”

“If I’ve got a great player at wide receiver and a corner is playing him single coverage, throw him the ball,” Kirby quoted Aikman.

Kirby does highlight that Lamb has been known to drop the ball, and I can add that fellow Cowboys star wide receiver Amari Cooper is also guilty of this. With the question of whether Cooper will be in Dallas next year, Kirby brought up that Lamb may be the sole top target of quarterback Dak Prescott soon.

As a Cowboys fan, I think they should’ve prioritized young running back Tony Pollard more in the 49ers game as well. With starting running back Ezekiel Elliott playing while being banged up this season, Pollard came in and played well. He and Elliott were named a great running back tandem. Pollard played a great role in upping the tempo with his speed and elusiveness to compliment Elliott’s power, one cut style.

While Cowboys players, as with any other team’s players, make mistakes, it’s also up to Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore and McCarthy to better use their players next season in Dallas, said Kirby. Though, with Kellen Moore being considered for future head coaching jobs and the drama around McCarthy, will they even be in Dallas next year?

Mike Fisher said that when McCarthy talked with Jerry Jones this week, McCarthy said their talks were positive, leaving McCarthy unworried about his job next year. Still, other intriguing replacements for McCarthy have been brought up.

Aikman’s teammate, three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Michael Irvin, also feels that the Cowboys should fire McCarthy. Irvin wants the Cowboys to pursue New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton, 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan (this would be really ironic), and Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. This is listed in this Fisher’s article called “Cowboys Should Fire Coach Mike McCarthy, Says Michael Irvin, for these 3 Replacements.”

The biggest case can be made for Payton. Michael Lombardi, a former NFL general manager, believes this could happen, expressed in another Fisher article titled “Dallas Cowboys Would Fire Mike McCarthy to Hire Saints Coach Sean Payton? Jerry Jones, the Rumor and the Background.”

“The Jones family loves Sean, Sean loves Dallas, Sean loves the Jones family,” Fisher quoted Lombardi.

Fisher adds that Payton is entering the last year of his contract with the Saints. He questioned if Payton can exit that. If so, things may change in the upcoming months.

To me, leading a team to the playoffs in his second year as the head coach is a sign that things are trending in the right direction. The results of next season may be greater with the players spending another year in McCarthy’s system. However, his coaching decisions worry me too.

The positivity between Jerry Jones and McCarthy makes me feel that McCarthy will return. I’m still paying close attention to what goes down in the upcoming months in this not for long league.