The Cowboys' Super Bowl drought has now extended to 28 seasons. Dallas, the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, was upset and routed by No. 7 Green Bay at home, 48-32, in Sunday's wild-card game. With that latest playoff exit once again keeping the Cowboys short of making the conference championship game, there will be some big offseason questions.
That's four seasons with coach Mike McCarthy not improving on the best of the Jason Garrett era. It's also a fifth postseason in which quarterback Dak Prescott has struggled to lead the Cowboys to big things, as he fell to 2-5 in his 7 playoff games.
Jerry Jones has a talented team that just won the NFC East for a second time in four years with a 12-5 record, edging out the reigning NFC champion Eagles. But after a third consecutive season of a dozen regular-season wins meaning nothing in the playoffs, the Cowboys will once more need to consider critical changes.
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Here are the five biggest challenges ahead for Dallas' offseason after its latest playoff failure, arguably the worst-ever in franchise history:
Cowboys' key offseason questions after playoff loss
1. Will Mike McCarthy be fired as the head coach?
McCarthy's Super Bowl-winning effort with the Packers 13 seasons ago now seems like a distant memory with him getting throttled by his former team and successor Matt LaFleur. McCarthy has been a strong leader for the Cowboys in the regular season when his key personnel is healthy, but he hasn't improved over Garrett in terms of getting over the hump in the playoffs.
Jones is well aware that Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel are among those other successful NFL coaches available in this cycle. He also should have more of an indication that McCarthy isn't the right clutch coach for them.
Although Jones was reluctant to part ways with Garrett because of his player ties to the organization, he is unlikely to stick with McCarthy for eight seasons, too, given the disappointing results. If McCarthy isn't let go, he would have a short extended lease on the job for 2024.
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2. Will the Cowboys try to get out of Dak Prescott's contract after 2024?
Prescott is signed through his age-31 season and he is too expensive salary-cap wise including dead money to trade this year. But he can easily become a free agent in 2025 ahead of turning 32. This could lead Dallas to moving on from him after one more season, seeing Prescott hasn't been the QB to push them to playoff glory despite some shiny accolades and a big contract.
The Cowboys did take a flyer on former 49ers first-rounder Trey Lance, but he's still more of a developmental backup. If indeed Prescott isn't in the plans after 2024, they need to think about a real succession plan, first with potential late first-round draft picks, a la the Packers did with Jordan Love while Aaron Rodgers was still under contract.
MORE: Breaking down Dak Prescott's playoff record, stats
3. How much will the Cowboys lose in free agency?
The Cowboys are in an awful salary cap position before they do some roster finagling to comply. They are among nine teams in the red with cap space, meaning they need to cut a few players and restructure some deals. They have the sixth-worst cap situation in the NFL.
The Cowboys have three key offensive starters not under contract for 2024 in running back Tony Pollard, long-time left tackle Tyron Smith and center Tyler Biadasz. It gets worse on defense, where linemen Neville Gallimore and Dorance Armstrong are unsigned, as well as Stephon Gilmore, Jourdan Lewis and Jayron Kearse in the secondary.
Dallas won't be able to keep several key pieces intact on either side of the ball. On top of the loss, the Cowboys will take some significant personnel hits and they have only seven draft picks to help compensate.
4. Will Dan Quinn leave for the Seahawks or another head-coaching job?
Seeing that his defense won't be the same unit up front or in the secondary next season, this is a good time for Quinn to leave Dallas and take a shot at his second head-coaching gig after he led Atlanta to the Super Bowl 51 after the 2016 season.
Quinn already has been tied to replacing Carroll in Seattle, a team just about parallel to Dallas' upside at this point.
MORE: 6 best Seahawks coaching candidates to replace Pete Carroll
5. How much are they willing to spend to lock up CeeDee Lamb long-term?
Lamb ended up with nine catches for 110 yards in the loss to the Packers to lead the team in receiving yards over fellow wideout Michael Gallup (six catches, 103 yards) and tight end Jake Ferguson (10 catches, 93 yards). But Prescott also was forced to pass 60 times after his team fell into a 48-16 hole by the fourth quarter. When considering Lamb had 17 targets and wasn't a big enough factor when the game was still a game, it was a disappointing playoff performance after coming off the best wide receiver season in Cowboys history.
Jones likes to bring out the Brinks truck for offensive stars and has throughout his history. He especially pays those wideouts who wear No. 88 and live up to the legacy. Lamb is going into the final year of his rookie contract and is looking for an extension that makes him the league's highest-paid wide receiver.
Will the Cowboys be so quick to comply now? Or will they make Lamb wait it out and sit on the fallback of the franchise tag in 2025?
When presented with a similar situation with a receiver, the Cowboys moved Amari Cooper with a new emerging go-to guy, Lamb, as a rising first-round star. The Cowboys may want to still commit to Lamb, but his lack of playoff pop when needed may give them pause as it resembled Lamb's woes from early in the 2023 season.
