The Cowboys have Mike McCarthy under contract through Jan. 14.
Mike McCarthy won’t be in official consideration for the Chicago Bears job just yet.
The Dallas Cowboys denied the Bears’ request to interview McCarthy for their head coaching job on Tuesday afternoon, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. While McCarthy’s status with the Cowboys is still uncertain, the team clearly isn’t ready to give up their negotiating window for him just yet.
ESPN Source: The Dallas Cowboys denied permission to the Chicago Bears to interview their head coach Mike McCarthy.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 8, 2025
McCarthy is under contract with the Cowboys through Jan. 14, which is when his initial five-year deal with the team expires. Until then, the Cowboys have exclusive negotiating rights with him. If they don’t strike a deal by then, the Bears — or any other team in the league — could opt to interview McCarthy.
So while this doesn’t shut down the idea of McCarthy leading Caleb Williams and the Bears next season, it stalls it for at least another week.
McCarthy has spent the last five seasons with the Cowboys, where he compiled a 49-35 record. He won just a single playoff game with the franchise, however, and has spent all season coaching without a contract extension. The Cowboys were one of the biggest disappointments in the league this season, and went just 7-10 and missed the playoffs.
Team owner Jerry Jones has been very non-committal about Jones’ future with the team, too.
“I’ll follow kind of the timeframe that I’ve done in the past,” he said when asked about it after their season-ending loss on Sunday.
McCarthy, however, has said that he “absolutely” wants to return.
The Bears are searching for a replacement for Matt Eberflus, who they fired earlier this season. The team went just 5-12 this season and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year. They’ve not won a playoff game since the 2010 campaign, either. Whoever replaces Eberflus will be tasked with not only fixing that drought, but developing Williams into a true franchise quarterback.
McCarthy has pulled that off in the past. He’s been a head coach in the league for nearly two decades, and he won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers. But if the Bears truly want him — which would provide an incredible moment the first time he strolls into Lambeau Field in Bears gear — they’ll have to keep waiting.
