The Cowboys could well be careening toward one of the most unexpected coaching moves in what has been a year packed with head-scratching coaching decisions: Dallas could keep coach Mike McCarthy on hand, even after his team’s implosion in the playoffs last year was followed by an injury-wracked season that is likely to end in a sub-.500 year here in 2024.
But owner Jerry Jones has spoken glowingly about the effort Cowboys players have shown to close the season despite a heap of injuries and very little to play for.
As Jones said on Dallas radio, via Todd Archer of ESPN, the conversations he has with McCarthy are all about the future, so it stands to reason that McCarthy might be around to see that future through.
“Most of the time when you’re discussing a situation on this football team, you’re talking about the future,” Jones said. “Now the future might be the next game, or it could be next month but it’s always not so much dwelling on what happened last Sunday or what happened two weeks ago, not so much there. … The future is where our decision-making is.”
Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy Could Take a Job Elsewhere
But McCarthy still is a lame-duck coach, with no extension in the offing. And it still makes eminent sense for Dallas to move on and bring in a new voice. Also, there is a new possibility that has risen up in the past couple of weeks: Maybe if the Cowboys want to keep McCarthy, he will be the one to say, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ and instead find a head coaching job elsewhere.
If that is how things pan out for the Cowboys and McCarthy, Dallas will need a new leader. And if they’re looking for a coordinator to push up the ranks to a top job, Bleacher Report has the ideal candidate. Writing in an article titled, “Ideal NFL Team-Coach Pairings Amid Latest Coaching Cycle Rumors,” Kristopher Knox pegs Vikings coordinator Brian Flores as the Cowboys’ top fit.
Flores comes with a sterling reputation as a defensive mastermind, one of the main reasons the Vikings have been the No. 3 defense in scoring allowed and No. 1 in takeaways. He also has the bonus of having been a head coach, for two seasons with the Dolphins.
Wrote Knox: “The 43-year-old has been a head coach before and he fared well, winning 19 games in his last two seasons in Miami. He’s also helped forge a playoff-caliber defense in Minnesota, a potential selling point for the Cowboys … (who) rank 27th in total defense and 30th in points allowed.
“Pairing a defensive coach with a competent offensive play-caller would be a sound strategy for Dallas. … With a playoff-caliber defense, Dallas could be a contender once again.”
Brian Flores Still Flagged by Controversy
Not mentioned in all of that, though, is that Flores has known a fair bit on controversy lingering from his time as a head coach in Miami. After he was fired by the Dolphins, Flores brought a bombshell lawsuit alleging discrimination by the team, and other NFL clubs, that was packed with headline-grabbing allegations.
Flores’ lawsuit has been lingering for two years, though, and took a hit this season when Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa alleged that Flores was borderline verbally abusive and a “terrible person.”
“You have a terrible person telling you things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start believing that about yourself. And so that’s what sort of ended up happening,” Tagovailoa said.
