The Dallas Cowboys have only two wins through their first six games for just the 16th time in franchise history. Amazingly, and unfortunately, this has now been the case for them in back-to-back seasons.
Brian Schottenheimer’s direct predecessors each oversaw only one start to a season of this variety. For Mike McCarthy (2020), Jason Garrett (2015), and Wade Phillips (2010) mid-October saw them lead the Cowboys to at least a hat trick’s worth of wins more often than not.
Schottenheimer is the subject
of great focus for the Cowboys right now and as a result some on the internet are wondering if the Cowboys could look to make a move. You will of course be shocked to learn that the team’s brass said that is in no way on their minds at the moment.
You can file this under “what else are they supposed to say” as the Cowboys know that they are in a bad NFC East and could wind up winning it when this calendar year wraps. Even if that happens, it is hard to see how the critics will cool on Brian Schottenheimer. Winning does cure all, though.
If you are curious what would happen if the wheels continued to fall off, it isn’t exactly the Cowboys’ style to fire coaches midseason. Heck, it isn’t even their style (relative to modern times) to fire them at all.
Wade Phillips was the last head coach who the Cowboys paid to not work for them, and they infamously fired him after a Sunday Night Football loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Sound familiar?
As many have said over the last decade and a half, the Cowboys were clearly comfortable doing that then because they had what they saw to be as an obvious replacement on staff already in Jason Garrett. Garrett did become the next head coach, and he was never fired by the team. The Cowboys saw his contract through twice.
It was after that second one came to an end that Dallas chose to simply not bring him back. They, as you know, brought in Mike McCarthy (who coincidentally delivered the final blow to Wade Phillips that fateful night at Lambeau) and he also saw his contract run through before he and the team went their separate ways. This leads us to our present time.
Schottenheimer signed a four-year deal with the Cowboys when they brought him on in 2025. This means that he isn’t even halfway done which is why the historical context is necessary here. History says the Cowboys will hold.
What do you think, though? Do you think it’s possible this is the time that they buck that trend?
Or do you expect more of the same in that capacity?
