If Mike McCarthy can move past his disappointment with Jason Garrett in the playoffs, his Cowboys contract may be extended.

The unbelievable collapses, like as Sunday’s 31-10 loss to the Bills, cannot occur in order to get there.

It is admirable that Mike McCarthy has persevered.He persevered through the 2020 6-10 campaign after the Dallas Cowboys’ hire of him seemed like a lackluster attempt to find someone adaptable and experienced with ownership. In 2021, he came back, going 12-5 and silenced rumors that Sean Payton was still haunting Jerry Jones’s mind. McCarthy complied with the Cowboys owner’s need for greater success in 2022 by stepping up and turning his second 12-5 season into Dallas’ first-ever playoff victory.

2023, right now? He’s currently enjoying his third straight season that will end with a postseason spot after taking charge of the offense; this accomplishment hasn’t occurred in Dallas since Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer worked together to lead the Cowboys to six consecutive postseasons from the 1991 to 1996 seasons.

Still, here we are once more. Gazing at the Dallas Cowboys’ 31-10 away defeat to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, we are left to consider one fact: we have no idea if Mike McCarthy’s team is capable of accomplishing anything more than what they have previously accomplished.

We were still left wondering about Sunday’s road problems and the appropriateness of playing starters deep into a fourth quarter when they are being physically destroyed, despite the offensive output and blowouts against weaker opponents. It’s still difficult to understand how a club that thrashed the Philadelphia Eagles on December 10 could collapse so badly against the Bills, a team that hasn’t yet established its identity this season, only one week later. And all of this taking place against the backdrop of ownership’s position about McCarthy’s possible contract extension.

Since there is currently no guarantee that these Cowboys are superior to the last two incarnations where it matters most—the postseason—Sunday should serve as a reliable gauge, as should the rest of the season. What is McCarthy achieving in Dallas that Jason Garrett wasn’t able to do before him if this iteration is just a copy of the previous two?

Although the final findings may seem harsh, that is what they are.

Maybe Jones should wait to see if McCarthy can create some difference between his performance and Garrett’s before considering a contract extension. Since current regime appears to be a more thrilling continuation of the last one, albeit one that has a stronger roster and a quarterback in Dak Prescott with greater experience, at least thus far.

However, the inexplicable collapses like Sunday’s game against the Bills cannot occur in order to get there. Not when McCarthy is plainly losing the game and jeopardizing his starters. Not with the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions, the current division leaders, hosting two of the Cowboys’ three remaining games. Not in the last month of the season when the Cowboys ought to be getting hotter for the postgame. Not when they are battling the Eagles for the NFC East title and the opportunity to host a home game in the opening round of the playoffs. And most definitely not when they’re exposing a flaw outside of AT&T Stadium that has emerged as the team’s biggest problem.

Without a doubt, McCarthy is contracted with this team until the 2024 campaign, but a lot of his future with them will be determined over the course of the next three weeks and beyond. In the upcoming offseason, it will determine if the fan base cheers for his dismissal or applauds an extension; it will determine whether another skillfully constructed roster is wasted or used to establish the conference title game or Super Bowl as the new norm.

Anything that’s not as good as that? The Dallas Cowboys’ current team will then run the risk of leaving behind a well-known legacy of being decent but never exceptional. And even Mike McCarthy can’t possible bear it in a year like this, when everything is up for grabs.