“The Dallas Cowboys Aren’t Serious About Winning”: NFL World Reacts as Jerry Jones Hires Brian Schottenheimer as the New HC

The Dallas Cowboys hired Brian Schottenheimer as the new head coach, and the NFL world isn’t holding back their disdain. A once-great ‘face of the league’ franchise has been bypassed by several coaches, forcing the team to hire from within. As a result, the media has been quick to point out how owner Jerry Jones mismanaged the situation. But was Schottenheimer the only realistic hire all along?

The Cowboys were rumored to be attached to several big-name coaches during their interview process. Guys like Ben Johnson, Robert Saleh, and Deion Sanders, to name a few. But traction never picked up with them. Johnson opted for Chicago’s job, while Saleh pursued the defensive coordinator position for the 49ers. And Sanders decided to remain in Boulder coaching the Buffaloes.

It’s a job that would’ve once been fought over by many. But today, it’s overlooked as a “bad job” — not because of the players, future draft picks, or anything related to the actual team. This time, it seemed like coaches were turned off by owner/GM Jerry Jones, who has allegedly had a say in every move made by the team under his former head coaches.

As expected, the NFL world reacted to the Schottenheimer hire with pity. Robert Griffin III, a former NFL quarterback, tweeted simply: “The Dallas Cowboys aren’t serious about winning.” The tweet has since received 16k likes.

Former Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant also shared his feelings on X (formerly Twitter). He wrote, “I honestly don’t know how to feel right now…I’m trying to understand what Jerry meant by saying he was ‘all in’. Maybe the coach is good, maybe he’s not, but my energy towards how the Cowboys have been mixing things doesn’t feel like success anytime soon…” His post received over 5k likes.

Emmanuel Acho, a Dallas native, also went on a rant on his show, The Facility, about the hire. He argued that the team should’ve chosen one of the other candidates because it would’ve generated excitement. Instead, they went with Schottenheimer, which, according to Acho, should leave the Cowboys fanbase feeling “sad.”

It’s an interesting reaction from the general public following the hire. For months, people were critiquing Jones for running a “reality TV show” rather than an actual football team. Yet, the moment he does something boring, people are up in arms over the decision. It doesn’t seem like Jones can do anything right at the moment. It’s fair to critique the hire as boring, but you can’t also say in the same breath that Jerry needs to stop being dramatic.

The end of the season was severely mismanaged by Jones, and he should be criticized for it. He didn’t show loyalty to Cooper Rush by not allowing him to play in the final game and earn a bonus. He also fired Mike McCarthy after the interview window for the top coaches around the league had closed. It was a rough stretch to end the year for Jerry.

But Schottenheimer might have been the most realistic hire all along. He had been the offensive coordinator for a top-five offense last season, and he’s been around for a while. His father, Marty Schottenheimer, was also a very successful coach back in the day. Marty is one of the few head coaches with 200 career wins who’s not in the Hall of Fame.

Also, considering the other options, they have better situations. Deion has become a staple in Colorado and a pillar of the community. Saleh had just been wronged by a bad front office and didn’t want to test those waters again, instead opting to go back to where he originally succeeded — San Francisco. Johnson was never interviewed and ultimately seemed to be waiting to accept the Chicago job. In hindsight, they weren’t realistic options.

Schottenheimer gives the Cowboys a chance to step away from the limelight and fix some underlying issues. He may be a boring hire, but he could also turn out to be the right one for the time being.