Has Mike McCarthy done enough in recent weeks to secure his future at the helm of the Dallas Cowboys?

Based on what team owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Sunday, it’s possible.

After a 26-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jones praised his head coach for leading the team to a victory even though the Cowboys had already been eliminated from the playoffs.

Dallas learned of its postseason fate before Sunday’s game, but it found a way to get the job done against the Bucs, and Jones credits McCarthy for lighting the fire.

“Proud of these guys. They wouldn’t give up out there. I’m really, really proud of her,” Jones said. “And Mike McCarthy just doesn’t let them think about the fact that they’re out there playing for the Super Bowl. He won’t let her do that. I’m so proud of it.”

The (7-8) Cowboys have had a difficult season overall, suffering a five-game losing streak earlier in the year. They also lost veteran quarterback Dak Prescott, who suffered a season-ending hamstring tear, among a slew of injuries. But the team has picked up four wins in its last five games with backup Cooper Rush at center.

With all of Dallas’ ups and downs this season, McCarthy’s job security has been an obvious topic of discussion as the fourth-year head coach’s contract expires at the end of the season. However, Jones has remained consistent about not discussing McCarthy’s fate publicly, even during the team’s darkest moments this season.

“All I can say is what a good job he’s doing,” Jones said Sunday. “I have no thoughts about what we do when we’re done playing this year.”

James Jones, co-host of FS1’s “The Facility,” who played under McCarthy in Green Bay, is adamant the 61-year-old coach isn’t going anywhere after this season, citing the last three weeks as proof.

“Coach Mike isn’t going anywhere. And to be honest, the last three weeks have made me know that,” Jones said on Monday’s episode.

McCarthy and the Cowboys have gone 2-1 in that span, with wins over the Panthers and Bucs and a heartbreaking loss to the Bengals that came on a special teams error.

“Jerry Jones has praised Mike McCarthy over the last three weeks like he was 13-1 and 14-1 like Andy Reid,” James Jones added. “It started with being a lame coach, all that stuff… The last three weeks you got the quarterback, you got the star defensive player and then you got the owner to talk the way he talked has. “Coach Mike is not going anywhere,” Jones continued.

The star defensive player James Jones was referring to was Micah Parsons. The three-time Pro Bowler recently defended his head coach, telling ESPN that he believes the Cowboys’ injuries derailed their season and that he wants everyone back next year.

“Coach Mike, the relationship between me and him has always been very good. He always took very good care of me,” Parsons said.

Although they won’t be competing in the playoffs, James Jones says the team still has some fighting to do.

“And they had something to play for, and it was the coach. They know that if you go out and lose games and games and games, even if you’re not in the playoffs, the coach could potentially (be) fired,” he said.

McCarthy has a 49-33 record in regular season games with the Cowboys and a 1-3 record in the playoffs. The team’s next games will be against two tough division rivals, against the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles on December 29th at 1:00 pm ET on FOX and against the 10-5 Washington Commanders in the season finale on January 5th.

Should the Cowboys win against either of them, McCarthy can probably breathe a sigh of relief for now, but James Jones believes the head coach is already in the clear.

“Coach Mike McCarthy has these guys playing really good football with the backup quarterback in the game. Coach Mike will be the coach of the Dallas Cowboys next year. You can hear it in Jerry’s voice. You can hear it in the players’ voices. Agree. And you can see how the players play,” he concluded.

On the other hand, FS1 “Speak” co-host and Cowboys legend Michael Irvin believes the emotions associated with some late-season wins get in the way of the reality in Dallas.

“Let’s remember that winning a few games in a row wasn’t the criteria in the creation of this season – it was about making the playoffs,” Irvin said. “So the team puts in a lot of effort. All of that is true, and congratulations to Mike McCarthy. But we also have to say, you’re done… three weeks before the end of the season you’re out of the (postseason). So I want us to pay attention because we get emotional, and…we shouldn’t make decisions during emotional times.”

The Pro Football Hall of Famer and three-time Super Bowl champion warned that the front office needs to look at the entire season before making a decision on a contract extension.

“He (Jerry Jones) comes to us and says things like, ‘He got people thinking they were playing for the Super Bowl.’ That doesn’t make sense because before the game you heard that they were eliminated from the playoffs, right? That’s it. So they’re not playing like they’re playing for the Super Bowl because they’re not even going to the playoffs. “That’s just emotional talk,” Irvin continued.

“At the end of the season you have to evaluate everything, not just this emotional moment that we had in these few blocks… these three blocks here. You have to evaluate everything, and everything says we have to think about an extension.”

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