Listen, I get it. The Dallas Cowboys’ loss to the Green Bay Packers was bad enough to spark a real conversation about whether Dallas could fire coach Brian Schottenheimer midseason, and I understand why.

The Cowboys didn’t just lose a tough one in Green Bay. The offense Schottenheimer calls plays for had no answers against pressure and no answers against the blitz. This time, there was no curtain to hide behind. The short week that followed a road game that followed an international game? Gone.

Dallas had 10 days of rest and a rest advantage over its opponent, which meant plenty of time to figure things out. Still, the offense looked as dumbfounded by the blitz as it did the week before against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So the questions about Schottenheimer’s job security are fair. Frankly, he looks outclassed by the opposing coaches he has faced recently. He also owns a losing record as the Cowboys’ head coach at 9-13-1, and seven of those wins came last season. This season, the Cowboys have only beaten the Washington Commanders and the Houston Texans.

Understanding the frustration is one thing. But is it realistic to expect a midseason firing? To answer that, we have to look at history.

The Cowboys don’t fire coaches midseason

The Cowboys don’t fire coaches midseason. Heck, they don’t even fire them after seasons.

Think about Jason Garrett and why he lasted so long in Dallas despite a clear lack of playoff success. Garrett saw his contract through twice. When the Cowboys moved on from him before the 2020 season, it was because his contract expired. They did not fire him halfway through it.

We saw the same trend with Mike McCarthy. His contract ended after the 2024 season, and Dallas negotiated a potential return with him. McCarthy didn’t want to come back on the contract length the Cowboys were offering, so he passed. That forced the front office to look at other candidates, which is what led to the Schottenheimer hire.

Why does this matter so much? Head coaching contracts in the NFL are fully guaranteed. If you fire a coach two years into a four-year deal, you still owe him the third and fourth years. The Cowboys have historically shown they don’t want to pay a coach who isn’t coaching for them.

That’s unfortunate, because there’s no salary cap for coaches. If Jerry Jones and company wanted to flex their cash, hiring big-time coaches would be the place to do it. Instead, they’ve been almost intentional about not spending unnecessary money on coaching.

Who would even take over?

The exception is Wade Phillips, way back when. However, that situation had one important difference. Garrett was on that staff and viewed as a coach with a bright future in Dallas, which made him a clear-cut candidate for interim head coach.

I look at this year’s staff, and I don’t know who the heck you promote if you fire Schottenheimer.

Klayton Adams hasn’t even called plays for the Cowboys. He’s viewed as a coach with a future in the NFL, but it’s ridiculously early in his career to make him head coach. If anything, you hand him play-calling duties.

We don’t even have to talk about defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who looks overwhelmed as he learns the job. Special teams coordinators frequently get the interim tag to avoid disruption on offense and defense. But Nick Sorensen is another coordinator who looks overwhelmed with his unit, and adding head coaching duties to his plate would be a pretty insane choice that wouldn’t fly with the media or fans.

Mike Pettine might be the most qualified option on the staff. Then again, he only just got to Dallas. The Cowboys brought him out of retirement to oversee the defense and give Parker feedback. Making him head coach wouldn’t make much sense either.

What about an outsider? The answer is clearly no. NFL teams start installing offenses and defenses in the spring and teaching those concepts in OTAs. The only example I can think of is Jeff Saturday with the Indianapolis Colts, and that clearly did not work out.

The offseason is the real deadline

If anyone on this staff should feel unsafe right now, it’s Parker. To be fair, he’s young, he’s learning, and this is a risk the Cowboys embraced. But Pettine has experience as both a defensive coordinator and a head coach, along with more than two decades in the league. He could step in.

The Cowboys’ defense hasn’t figured anything out through six weeks. Even though it looked better against Green Bay, the Packers had a lot of self-inflicted wounds Sunday night, including multiple dropped touchdowns in the end zone and plenty of costly penalties. Then again, Parker will probably get a chance to see the season through, especially because of injuries to the secondary. 

As for Schottenheimer, he’s in trouble heading into the offseason. Unless we see a drastic turnaround, there’s no way Dallas brings him back. We’ve never seen quarterback Dak Prescott look this bad against the blitz, and we’ve never seen this offense struggle this much with wide receivers George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb.

He’s on the hot seat. It just doesn’t come with a midseason deadline.