Jerry Jones takes brutal shot at fired Dallas Cowboys coach and blames him for failed playoff bid

Jerry Jones has seemingly pinned the Dallas Cowboys’ failure to reach the playoffs last season on fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

The former Chicago Bears head coach was hired by Dallas just over 12 months ago but on his watch the Cowboys allowed the most points and intercepted the fewest passes in franchise history.

As a result, Eberflus was fired in January and it marked the second consecutive season he lost a job after he was let go midseason by the Bears in 2024.

The Cowboys’ defensive troubles quickly became a source of frustration, especially because their offense clicked under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer.

With Dak Prescott under center, Dallas looked dangerous with an array of weapons including wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, running back Javonte Williams and tight end Jake Ferguson.

But they ultimately went 7-9 and missed out on the playoffs, leading Jones to fire Eberflus and recruit highly-rated Philadelphia Eagles coach Christian Parker as his replacement. 

With a busy offseason of defensive recruitment and the NFL draft still to come, Jones believes even a slight improvement in defense will see his team return to the postseason.

‘What we’ve done on defense, plus what we have set up for the draft, plus what we have coming back from our veteran defensive players that really didn’t play that much last year, injury issues, things like that, gives us a lot of promise,’ Jones said.

‘When you have the challenges we had last year, there’s no place to go but up on the defensive side of the ball.

‘Had we played a lick of defense last year, we would’ve had ourselves, I think, a real playoff run.’

So far this offseason, the Cowboys have already traded for pass rusher Rashan Gary from the Green Bay Packers.

They have also recruited defensive end Otito Ogbonnia, safety Jalen Thompson, cornerback Cobie Durant, safety P.J. Locke and outside linebacker Tyrus Wheat in free agency.

The Cowboys also own eight picks in next month’s NFL draft, including the 12th overall and a second first-rounder. It will be Parker’s job to mould the new recruits into a formidable defensive unit.

Schottenheimer said the Cowboys conducted more than 40 interviews for the job with nine defensive coordinators among them.

Parker was the passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach for the Eagles, which meant they had to grant the Cowboys permission to talk to the 34-year-old because replacing Eberflus would be a promotion. 

He will be the fourth Dallas defensive coordinator in the past four seasons. Under Eberflus, the Cowboys had the worst passing defense in the NFL. The Eagles had one of the league’s best in both seasons with Parker.

With Parker on staff, Philadelphia was the first repeat winner in the NFC East in 21 years and won the Super Bowl to cap the 2024 season.

The Cowboys have six new assistants under Parker in Derrick Ansley (passing game coordinator), Marcus Dixon (defensive line), Robert Muschamp (assistant secondary), Ryan Smith (cornerbacks), Scott Symons (inside linebackers) and Chidera Uzo-Diribe (outside linebackers).

Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams tops the list of impact players returning to the Dallas defense in 2026, and cornerback DaRon Bland could be another one if he can shake the foot issues that have shortened both seasons since he set an NFL record by returning five interceptions for touchdowns.

The Cowboys are curious to see what linebacker DeMarvion Overshown can bring if he stays healthy all year for the first time in his fourth season, and Dallas drafted an injured Shavon Revel Jr. in the third round last year believing he could thrive in man-to-man coverage.