Dak Prescott shares his hope for Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys future

Five guaranteed games remain on Mike McCarthy’s contract.

Dak Prescott hopes the Dallas Cowboys keep his coach for more.

The Cowboys quarterback can’t meaningfully impact his team’s performance as he recovers from season-ending surgery to repair his hamstring tear. That bothers him.

“Your coach seems like he’s playing on his last contract and [I’m] almost feeling helpless like I can’t help him in this situation, especially a guy you believe in so much and you believe in being your head coach,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports during a Tuesday afternoon Zoom call. “Control what I can control, help and support Mike to every extent that I can.”

In nine seasons with the Cowboys, Prescott has played for two head coaches. He leans on his experience watching Jason Garrett coach the final year of his deal in 2019 to manage this season. Prescott said he was glad to hear team owner and general manager Jerry Jones say last week that it’s “not crazy” to consider McCarthy returning for a sixth season and beyond.

“I believe in him wholeheartedly,” Prescott said, speaking in partnership with DICK’S Sporting Goods. “I don’t want to necessarily get into the nuts and the screws of it all obviously, but I think he definitely deserves a chance — another contract and a chance to coach this team amongst more influence. ‘On his terms’ may be a good way to say it.

“But I wholeheartedly believe in him.”

The Cowboys posted three straight 12-win seasons from 2021 through 2023 under McCarthy. They’ve made the playoffs each of McCarthy’s years in which Prescott has been healthy for more than half of games but fallen far short of their postseason goals. The Cowboys have not advanced to the NFC Championship, much less the Super Bowl, since the 1995 season.

After the 2021 season, the San Francisco 49ers upset the Cowboys in the wild-card round, 23-17. Dallas was the only division winner to lose in that round.

The next year, Dallas beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a soon-to-be-retired-for-good Tom Brady in the wild-card round. But the 49ers eliminated them again in the divisional round.

And after the 2023 season, the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers trounced the Cowboys at home in a 48-32 win that was more lopsided than late-game points suggested. The Packers led 27-0 with two minutes remaining in the first half.

The Cowboys, who had won 16 straight games at home before then, went on to lose six straight before they beat the New York Giants on Thanksgiving.

Jones said Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan that he believed momentum carries from season to season, and that the Packers loss continued to influence the Cowboys’ struggles this year.

Dallas went 3-5 in games Prescott played.

“It hurt,” Prescott said of the Packers loss. “You’ve got to learn from your lessons [and] you can’t come in a playoff game starting slow, especially against a team that is hot. What Jerry is saying is a late come-on rally [can help]. I mean, look at Green Bay, a team that almost didn’t make the playoffs last year, got going late in the year, able to make the playoffs and not only make the playoffs, [but] make a run and beating us, playing San Fran tight to the end and then that’s propelled them into this season.

“Winning two games back to back is huge, so we can continue to just do that and take some momentum, take some confidence, understanding that a huge amount of this team will still be on the team next year.”

Coming off division wins against the Washington Commanders and Giants, the 5-7 Cowboys have a 4 percent chance of making the playoffs, per Next Gen Stats.

The Cowboys next host the Cincinnati Bengals on “Monday Night Football.” The Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders follow on Dallas’ schedule.

Jones and the Cowboys front office will decide the franchise’s coaching future afterward. Prescott knows his vote.

He wants the coach who’s helped him sharpen his footwork and timing, teaching him nuances of the game that propelled Prescott to MVP runner-up last season.

“The guy’s won a Super Bowl — I know Jerry’s attested to that,” Prescott said. “There’s not many guys or coaches who have done that and to have one that can do it from experience? I know how valuable he’s been for me.”