Mike McCarthy calls Cowboys blowout loss to 49ers 'humbling'

The Dallas Cowboys are looking like the Jekyll and Hyde team of the league after a blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers in primetime on Sunday night. After crushing the Patriots 38-3 in Week 4, Dallas lost 42-10 against their NFC rivals.

The Cowboys’ inconsistency has head coach Mike McCarthy demanding more accountability from everyone in the organization.

“A very humbling loss, clearly, and that’s stating the obvious,” McCarthy said post-game. “I think the biggest thing is that I just had a reflection on the five games we’ve played, and it’s been a wide range of performance — as wide of a range as I can recall in a five-week period. The biggest thing is for us to be accountable.”

“It’s clearly humbling,” McCarthy added. “But it is one game —I expressed that coming into that. They were playing very well coming into [this game], and I thought our defense was in for a big challenge. Frankly, it starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job tonight. … It clearly just shows where we are at 3-2. It’s [lack of] consistency. Even when we’re playing really well, look at those three games that we’ve won by a big margin, it’s pre-snap penalties that showed up again tonight.”

The 42 points allowed on Sunday were the second-most of the McCarthy era. Against the Cleveland Browns in 2020, the Cowboys defense gave up 49 points. It’s baffling considering Dallas’ league-leading 10.3 points allowed per game after four weeks. The defensive front also got to 49ers QB Brock Purdy one time for a sack.

McCarthy: Cowboys loss was a ‘kick in the a**’

The 49ers game was meant to be a measuring stick game for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, it just ended up proving how much more work the team has to do before they’re ready for a run in the playoffs.

“It’s a punch in the gut,” McCarthy concluded. “It’s a kick in the ass — whatever phrase you wanna put on it. You look at how this season has gone. We’ve been knocked down.

“They beat us in all three phases and we’ve got to acknowledge it. I’m not a burn-the-tape guy. I think that’s a crock of sh*t. We’re going to go through it and make sure we’re clear on exactly what the expectations are.”

Dallas gets one extra day of preparation this week ahead of another game on the West Coast against the L.A. Chargers. They’ll face off against McCarthy’s former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore on Monday Night Football.