Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones released a statement announcing the return of head coach Mike McCarthy:

"I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach," Jones stated in part.

"There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress under Mike's leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike's approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our post season goals."

McCarthy has been the head coach for four seasons, winning 12 games apiece in each of the last three. However, postseason success has largely evaded the Cowboys, with the team going 1-3 in the playoffs since 2021. The low point occurred last Sunday when the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers crushed the host No. 2 Cowboys 48-32 in the NFC Wild Card round.

That naturally led to rumors and speculation regarding McCarthy's potential ouster, but he'll be back for his fifth season, the last year remaining on his contract.

The question now is what the Cowboys will do moving forward in hopes of finally finding postseason success. Dallas hasn't advanced past the Divisional round (or won the Super Bowl) since 1995. McCarthy's last three teams appeared capable of potentially making deep playoff runs, but none were able to do so.

Jones didn't give too many specifics on the future as he closed his statement:

"We will start our process of review and decision making regarding everything that impacts our team and roster and, while we're not going to address specific players and extensions or free agents at this point, it deserves our deepest review and consideration, and it will get it."

McCarthy will speak with reporters on Thursday morning after confirmed news of his return.

The biggest offseason question is the status of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who has led one of the best defensive units in football since his arrival in 2021. He's one of the hottest coaching candidates out there and could very well leave.

Dallas also has some free agent questions, with left tackle Tyron Smith, running back Tony Pollard, defensive end Dorrance Armstrong among the bigger names.

For now, though, Dallas has endured another early playoff exit and enters the offseason searching for answers that it hopes will lead to a Super Bowl.