A less-charitable one, considering Dallas’ breadth of data on McCarthy’s performance and this season effectively being over since October, is this being the latest clumsy attempt at a football telenovela, with the plot twist—surprise, Mike is gone after all!—timed to drop the morning after two of Dallas’ NFC East rivals each won playoff games.

The Dallas Cowboys are starting over with a new head coach yet again and one of the team's former stars believes Dan Quinn's success in Washington helped lead to the decision.

The move comes after McCarthy and the Cowboys missed the playoffs for the first time since his inaugural season in 2020.