Jimmy Johnson makes case for head coaching swap between Cowboys, Steelers

Jimmy Johnson wants to see the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers swap head coaches for the 2025 season. On Fox NFL Sunday, the former Cowboys head coach said Mike McCarthy and Mike Tomlin should trade places to help turn the Cowboys and Steelers around.

“Things are stale in Pittsburgh, things are stale in Dallas,” Johnson said. “Just food for thought, how about a coaching swap? Mike McCarthy is a Pittsburgh guy. Let him go to Pittsburgh, let Mike Tomlin go to Dallas, both franchises would be excited.”

Johnson’s comments come after the Cowboys and Steelers had disappointing ends to their seasons. The Cowboys finished the 2024 campaign with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020. The Steelers qualified for the playoffs with a 10-7 record but lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round of the playoffs on Saturday night. The Steelers have now lost six straight playoff games with the last win occurring in 2016.

Both teams could use a spark, but will they really move on from their head coaches? For the Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy’s contract with the Cowboys has expired, but it’s been reported the team is expected to open talks on a new contract to keep him in Dallas. McCarthy has posted an 84-49 record in his five seasons in Dallas and won two NFC East titles.

More on the Cowboys and Steelers’ head coaches

“I don’t like to talk about myself that way, but I’ll just be clear: I’m a winner. I know how to win. I’ve won a championship. I won a championship in this building,” McCarthy said after the Cowboys’ final game of the season last week, per the team’s official website. “And that’s who I am. We’ll see where it goes.”

Mike Tomlin has been with the Steelers since 2007 and has never had a losing season. In his career, Tomlin has won 183 regular season games, eight playoff games, seven AFC North titles and one Super Bowl championship. However, the Steelers have not played in a Super Bowl since the 2010 season and they ended the 2024 season with five consecutive losses.

“We just weren’t good enough, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said after losing to the Ravens on Saturday, per the Steelers’ official website. “A drop here and there and things of that nature, when you’re playing really good people, it really gets highlighted, and we just weren’t good enough.”