FRISCO, Texas — The prevailing discourse following the conclusion of the Dallas Cowboys matchup against the Washington Commanders on Sunday will, of course, be the future of head coach Mike McCarthy; but there is a long list of other coaches at the team's headquarters who also have no clue about which direction their path will go in 2025 — including Mike Zimmer.
"No feelings, really," he said as preparation began for the finale. "This isn't the first time for me. People in the real world deal with this all the time. They don't have long term contracts, so I actually don't think it's a big deal."
Zimmer's reunion with the Cowboys in 2024 got off to a rocky start after an impressive initial win in the season opener against a Cleveland Browns team many pegged as a possible playoff caliber unit, the defense in Dallas then struggling in both their pass rush and in takeaways.
Those were two categories the defense excelled in under Dan Quinn, but they did finally return to form in both areas during the back half of the season, and despite a gutting amount of loss to injured reserve that required the next man up, and the next man after that next man, to be coached up and to immediately buy into what was expected of him.
So what went wrong during the rocky road that was the first half of the season?
"I wish that when I came in, I would've done everything the way I wanted it done," said the usually hard-nosed coordinator and former head coach. "That was probably the struggle at the beginning. What I am most proud about is watching the guys improve. … There's still more we could've done better, but I think a lot of it was that.
"So we had to work through a whole lot of different scenarios to get to the vision that I had."
By now, you're wondering exactly what he means by those comments.
You're in luck, because he explained further.
"I was just doing things I was uncomfortable with," Zimmer said. "I had to just do what I had to do. So here was the situation: they were good last year, right? So I came in and I didn't really want to rock the boat.
"I probably wasn't as tough as I typically am. I probably wasn't as hard-headed about things — about how I wanted to do things — is the best way to say it. I wasn't, and that's what I regret the most."
He couldn't have been more proud when that switch flipped within him and it began to translate onto the field through his players, the ones that were available, at least.
"There've been a couple games this year where I watched the game and watched the film the next day and I said, 'That's how it's supposed to look, this is how it's supposed to look,'" Zimmer said. "I keep feeling that way … And we started getting back to that spot. I felt like this is what resembles what my vision was of what it was supposed to be like."
Though there was some reversion in the blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, an outcome more largely fueled by the Cowboys' offense giving the ball away three times in the first half, and quickly after long (and successful) drives by the Eagles, the fact remains Zimmer wasn't pleased with the overall showing at Lincoln Financial Field on his side of the ball.
Still, enough has been put on film, and with a patchwork cast, to warrant a very real conversation toward potentially re-signing him for next season.
Much like free agency regarding players, it's a two-way street, though.
Zimmer did go on to note that a team has to "want him" for their to be any consideration on his part about staying in the league — to which budding superstar linebacker DeMarvion Overshown offered his opinion.
"We want him," Overshown wrote, via X (formerly known as Twitter).
Echoing the sentiment, vehemently, was all-world pass rusher Micah Parsons, whom many outside of the building believed would bump heads with Zimmer prior to the two forming a strong personal relationship and bond over the course of an adversity-laden campaign.
"I hope Zim's back, man." said Parsons. "That's my dawg. You want to get a couple years in a defense. Think about [Quinn]. That first year, we were good.
"That second year? We were a top-5 defense in the league. You hope you can build off of that, you know?"
All told, the Cowboys' front office will begin the process of deciding who they'll offer a new contract to as early as Sunday evening, but time will tell if Zimmer, having nothing more to prove in the NFL, will be open to taking on another season-long grind to try and get the Cowboys back to the Promised Land.
After all, the biggest reason for his return was/is rooted in the loss of his son, Adam, who passed away in 2022 and was once a young boy watching Zimmer coach the Cowboys' defense in the 1990s.
"I needed it partly for my son," Zimmer said, emotional and losing the fight against his own tears. "... Adam was a terrific kid, is a terrific kid. Really smart about football. He would've given his left arm to be here and do this.
"I know that he's upstairs looking down, cheering every Sunday."
Zimmer then apologized as he exited the podium, but there's an inherent strength in a willingness to be vulnerable, and it also gave the world a glimpse into why, despite his reputation of having an iron fist, so many legendary former players of his are so willing to plant their flag for him.
For as much as this is about football, it's also about so much more.
