The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night authoritative fashion. A season that began with extreme hype and a 3-0 record has now seen the Cowboys go 3-7 in their last 10 games.
Despite all that, Dallas still controls its own destiny to win the NFC East and, in theory, win the Super Bowl.
An optimist to an extreme fault, Jerry Jones has made it clear Jason Garrett will remain the Cowboys' coach as long as the team still has a shot to make the playoffs, and Thursday's loss did nothing to effect that. (This, despite the evidence that Garrett's presence might be hindering the Cowboys' chances to make the playoffs, but I digress.)
Nothing about Garrett's job status changed Thursday night, or Friday morning when Jerry made his weekly appearance on the Cowboys' flagship station.
Look, Garrett is 83-66 as the Cowboys' head coach. The longest-tenured NFL head coach without a Super Bowl ring, Garrett has never led the Cowboys past the divisional round in eight full seasons as the head coach and now 12 full seasons on staff, dating back to his stint as offensive coordinator. It's clear to all involved that Garrett's time has run its course in Dallas and, barring one of the biggest mid-season turnarounds in the history of American sports, we're all just waiting for the bells surrounding the Star to start tolling.
But it's also clear that the Cowboys' problems go far higher on the organizational flow chart than the head coach, and Friday morning was yet another reminder. Not just the content of the interview, but the more obvious statement that the Cowboys' owner has his own weekly spot on the flagship radio station.