Mike McCarthy breaks down the reason for Cowboys’ humiliating loss to Packers in the Wild Card Game

As he enters into the final year of his contract, Mike McCarthy spoke to The Athletic regarding the latest happenings and how he intends to give the fans what they deserve, a Super Bowl win. He addressed the biggest question that was on everyone’s mind since the Wildcard game, ‘What went wrong against the Packers?’ as well.

Mike McCarthy believes the Cowboys should have slowed down the game against the Packers

Mike McCarthy described that he was “still a little bit numb” in the manner in which the season ended. He was unable to fathom a scenario in which the Cowboys would be down 27-7 heading into halftime. While Dak Prescott did attempt to stage a comeback late in the second half, it was not enough to close the deficit. McCarthy viewed his team’s attempts to comeback as a positive sign.

Here’s what he said:

I think if anything, we were going too fast. That was the common message with the players. I watched the game Sunday night when I got home, and that's what I felt. We've done such an excellent job in the big-play production component of the game and it was definitely one of our strengths all year. But you can't chase big plays. And then there was a number of times we were chasing plays. And it bit us in the a**.

The Cowboys began to panic. That was the biggest takeaway from the game. Firstly, the team did not expect to be in the position that it ended up finding itself in. When the team realized that the game was getting away from them, they did everything to hold on to it desperately. This included rushing plays which eventually led to an interception and multiple mistakes on offense and defense.

The reason the Cowboys looked good and calmer after the half was that they had some time to process what was happening, but by then it was too late. The team decided to take it one play at a time late in the third and fourth quarter but the Packers had already built a big lead and it was impossible to bite at it.

If anything, the team needs to figure out a way to maintain its composure no matter how hard the game gets, as long as it is going in their favor, the Cowboys continued to play well this season but if a game began to slip out of their hands, they proceed with haste and thereby the entire effort and game goes to waste.