ARLINGTON, Texas – After the worst home loss of his time as owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, 47-9 against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Jerry Jones stood by his head coach, Mike McCarthy.

“Oh, I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Jones said of a possible change. ‘I’m not considering that. To be clear, I’m not considering that.’

When reminded of the previous coaching change he made in 2010, when he fired Wade Phillips and named Jason Garrett as interim coach after a 1-7 start, Jones became curt.

“That would be hypothetical. On that note, do you think I’m an idiot? Do you? OK. Well, I’m not going to hypothetically with you about whether I would consider a coaching change in light of the timing .” “I’m not here at all,” he said.

McCarthy is in the final year of his contract. Despite posting three consecutive 12–5 finishes, the Cowboys’ lack of success in the playoffs (they have not advanced beyond the divisional round of the playoffs and have lost two postseason games at AT&T Stadium since he was hired in 2020) leaves McCarthy’s future in question heading into the season.

The Cowboys are 3-3 after the loss to the Lions entering their bye week. They are just one game behind the Washington Commanders in the NFC East, but have lost their first three home games for the first time since 2010 and were outscored by 66 points in those games.

“Well, we’re disappointed to be 3-3,” Jones said. “I don’t necessarily have to fully blame McCarthy for the three losses. The players will tell you they had something to do with it too. His other parts of the staff will tell you. And the owner certainly will.” narrate.” You had something to do with it, so it’s not just him.”

Before Sunday, the biggest home loss of the Jones era came in 2001 (36-3 to the Philadelphia Eagles). There have only been three other home losses in team history with a larger margin of defeat.

For the third home game in a row, the Cowboys faced a large halftime deficit. They trailed the Lions 27-6 after trailing the Baltimore Ravens 21-6 and the New Orleans Saints 35-16. In last season’s wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Cowboys trailed 27-7 at halftime.

Without Micah Parsons (high ankle sprain) and Eric Kendricks (shoulder), as well as DeMarcus Lawrence and DaRon Bland, who are on reserve with foot injuries, the Cowboys knew they would be challenged defensively.

“How do I explain it? I think clearly, No. 1, we got beat today,” McCarthy said. “They’re a very good team. The facts are, right now in Week 6, they’re even further ahead of us.”

Dak Prescott was intercepted in the end zone of the Cowboys’ second series. It was his third red zone goal in two games. After that turnover, the Cowboys went three-and-out twice and four-and-out on their next three possessions.

A 10-3 hole turned into a 27-3 hole with 36 seconds left in the second quarter.

After the interception, “I didn’t feel like there was a positive play after that that we could build on to get anything going,” Prescott said. “Very frustrating.”

The Cowboys will have to deal with this loss for two weeks, because they have a bye next week. They return Oct. 27 to face the San Francisco 49ers, who have defeated the Cowboys three times in a row, including 42-10 last year at Levi’s Stadium.

“We have a bye week ahead of us, kind of a time to reset, refocus and come out in two weeks and respond,” tight end Jake Ferguson said. “So that’s a big one. And it’s about coming back, fighting back.”

As the Cowboys’ quarterback, Prescott is aware of what surrounds both his position and the coach, but he expressed his belief in McCarthy.

“I’m going to war for that man, with that man every day. And I’m not the only one in that locker room,” Prescott said. “I feel like everyone feels that. If you heard what he said after that game – not something I want to tell you guys honestly about – but a strong message. Strong message. And in a loss to be able to feel that Let those emotions see and respond, I’ll follow him. And most of all, I mean, I know he said it to you, he said it in there, he’s looking in the mirror, like all of us .”

Sunday was certainly not the way Jones wanted to celebrate his 82nd birthday.

“Overall,” Jones said, “I think my message is: I know you don’t need to hear me say this, but I’m very aware that we’re in the proverbial situation right now. “