If there was anything that stood out from the press conference of the Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy, whose team looked as far away from a championship on Sunday in the beating administered by the Green Bay Packers, it was McCarthy’s insistence that the Cowboys do, in fact, have a championship program in place. The Cowboys, McCarthy seemed to be saying, are ever-so-close to a championship, with only one ingredient currently missing—playoff wins.

Now, for most of us, and for folks in and around the NFL, it would seem that playoff wins are all that really matter when it comes to a championship program. But asked what his message to Cowboys fans would be after that distressing loss to the Packers, McCarthy indicated that the Cowboys need only “cross the threshold” and the wins will come.

“My message would be this: We have established a championship program. It’s just not the world championship yet,” McCarthy said. “We know how to win, we know how to train to win. We have the right people. But we have not crossed the threshold of winning playoff games. And it’s extremely disappointing to be sitting here talking about it. But I know how to win. We will get over threshold. I have total confidence in that, and that’s why I’m standing here today.”

Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy Was Expected to Be Fired
For many, it was a bit of a shock to see McCarthy standing behind a podium at The Star at all this week. Heading into the playoffs, it appeared that team owner and general manager Jerry Jones was putting the coach on notice, and that another playoff failure—McCarthy is 1-3 in the postseason in Dallas—could result in dismissal. If there was a bright side to the blowout loss, perhaps it was that Jones would hire Bill Belichick or Jim Harbaugh or Mike Vrabel or somebody, anybody, except McCarthy.

Mike McCarthy has a message for Cowboys fans:

"We have established a championship program… I know how to win and we will get over that threshold" pic.twitter.com/YsWF0anW9E

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 18, 2024

McCarthy is in the final year of his contract. That may have worked in his favor here. Rather than make a change and pay McCarthy to not coach the team, Jones could have simply decided to let him play out his deal. McCarthy would not talk about being in the final year of his deal, though.

“I’ve never talked about players’ contracts, coaches’ contracts. I’m not going to start today,” McCarthy said. “I will say I’m very confident in the direction. I like where we are moving forward, I’m very confident where I am.”

McCarthy was asked, too, whether there was some relief that he could put the job uncertainty behind him.

“I think it’s more of a direction. That’s all we every want, is what’s the direction, what’s the schedule? And get to work,” McCarthy said.

‘Going Too Fast’ vs. Packers
McCarthy was asked what happened, exactly, in the Green Bay disaster. It was the first subject broached during his three-hour meeting with Jones this week, which led to McCarthy’s stay of execution. Were the Cowboys sluggish? Flat? Too slow?

“I think if anything, we were going too fast,” McCarthy said. “That’s the message with the players. I watched the game Sunday night when I got home, and that’s what I felt. We’d done such an excellent job in the big-play production component of the game, definitely one of your strengths all year. But you can’t chase big plays. There’s a number of times we were chasing plays. That bit us in the a**.”

Finally, McCarthy was asked about Cowboys fans, who have been pretty universal in their disappointment with the fact that McCarthy will be back.

“I clearly understand and respect the emotion of all this and definitely the fans’ perspective,” he said. “But that’s what, really, the evaluation process is for. It’s very raw right now as I’m standing here in front of you. But there definitely will be changes and adjustments that are made. I think we do have a lot to build off of.”