Jerry Jones' Loyalty Inspires Online Frustration: 'Clown Franchise'

For the most part, loyalty is seen as a virtue. When the going gets tough, no one wants to be working with someone who's going to throw their peers under the bus to save their own skin. Some Dallas Cowboys fans, however, might beg to differ.

While America's Team looked good during the regular season and seemed poised for playoff success, things ultimately came undone. Despite having home-field advantage and facing the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers, Dallas gave up 48 points in an ugly Super Wild Card Weekend defeat.

Those sorts of crushing defeats usually have ramifications, and many suspected that head coach Mike McCarthy could pay the price for his team's failings. That, however, wasn't to be. On Wednesday, multiple outlets reported that the bench boss would be returning. The club eventually made things official.

"I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with [McCarthy] as our head coach. There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress under Mike's leadership as our head coach," Jones explained at the start of a lengthy statement.

Let's just say that that plan wasn't exactly well received.

On X, formerly Twitter, Jones' statement was largely met with a combination of frustration and derision. One user, for example, said that the franchise was comfortable losing; another suggested that the owner/general manager should release himself. A third implied that Jones was a clown.

Those sentiments, however, transcended social media platforms. On the Cowboys' subreddit, Adam Schefter's report that McCarthy was returning prompted a similar response.

"Another season of being terrorized by horrible clock management, zero adjusting, bad play calling, and mediocrity. No one does it better than the Cowboys," user tobiller wrote. That post's top response, which came from user glokenheimer, simply added, "Wait don't forget piss poor discipline."

Others shifted their focus from the field and toward the franchise's overall direction.

"Actual morons running this franchise into the dirt," user DR0941 wrote.

"Yeah not wasting my time next season watching this clown organization anymore," user logandaballer explained. "Being born in 1996 all I've seen is extreme mediocrity and severe discipline issues. Looks like this will continue and I'm not wasting any more Sundays."

Elsewhere in the comments, user Defunct_Departure offered a rather succinct take: "Clown franchise. Poverty." That sentiment was repeated by others, albeit with more vulgarity.

Jones' Choice Wasn't Exactly Surprising

While the decision to retain McCarthy prompted some strong feelings, it wasn't completely out of left field. Jones, for his reputation as a big-game hunter willing to open his wallet, has been loyal over the years.

Going back as far as 2013, ESPN's Dan Graziano published a story wondering, "Is Jerry Jones too loyal to his players?" In 2017, Brandon George of The Dallas Morning News penned a piece about Jones' loyalty and how many Cowboys saw him as a father figure, not a boss.

And, of course, there was plenty of loyalty-based coverage of Jones' eventual decision to move on from head coach Jason Garrett. In complete fairness, some social media users referenced Garrett's time in Dallas after the McCarthy announcement.

Public opinion isn't everything—running a team will mean making some unpopular decisions—but Jones will probably have at least a few more notable opportunities to move the needle in one way or another. Quarterback Dak Prescott's contract is set up for an extension, and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn could be leaving for another gig. And then there's the standard draft and free agency decisions that arise every offseason.

Given the status of the Dallas Cowboys, all of those choices are going to provoke strong responses. It just remains to be seen which way the pendulum will swing.