Entering the second year as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Brian Schottenheimer has a lot of expectations on his shoulders. Last season, he guided the team to a 7-9-1 record in his first season, while having one of the most explosive offensive units in the NFL. Although they missed the playoffs entirely, owner Jerry Jones knew what was needed to turn things around going into next season. After a whole list of changes, they now boast one of the strongest units in the league, which means the pressure is now on Schottenheimer to deliver the results.

Last season, the Cowboys missed the playoffs for the second year in a row. However, last year was Schottenheimer’s first year as the HC, and the team needed a major revamp. But if they go another year without playoffs, Schottenheimer could be at risk.

“He should be,” DLSS host Jeff Cavanaugh said when asked if the Cowboys coach was in a hot seat.

The crew then started to discuss what the circumstances were under which he would be excused if the Cowboys missed another out on another playoff run.

“The only way he would survive a losing season and not make the playoffs this year is if Dak Prescott misses a significant amount of time,” Jesse Holley said on the show.

Before Schottenheimer, Mike McCarthy made the playoffs with the Cowboys with a 12-5 record in three straight seasons. Although they only managed to get one playoff win under McCarthy, their regular-season record was mostly good.

Schottenheimer held the offensive coordinator position in Dallas for two seasons before he was named their HC. While in 2023, he helped shape them into becoming one of the best offensive units in the league, in 2024, the Cowboys just did not get going. One of the biggest reasons behind this was Dak Prescott’s absence due to injury in the final eight games of the season.

In 2024, the Cowboys scored 30 points or more in just three games. This led to McCarthy parting ways with the team and Schottenheimer taking over as HC. With Prescott back as his QB in 2025, he helped the Cowboys have one of the best offensive units in the league. According to Fox Sports, the Cowboys finished second in total offense at 391.9 yards per game and seventh in scoring offense at 27.7 points per game. Prescott was equally impressive, throwing for 4,554 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Aside from being one of the best players on the roster, Prescott is the captain of the team and someone who carries the offense. It is natural that without him, the team’s performance levels might drop. Sam Howell and Joe Milton are currently battling it out to be the primary backup QB over the summer. However, both of them are going to be able to deliver what Prescott does for the Cowboys.

Without Prescott, the team holds a 13-13 record, which says a lot about how instrumental he is to the offense. In 2020, when Dak suffered a season-ending ankle injury, the Cowboys won only 4 games. Meanwhile, in 2024, when he went down with a hamstring injury, the team ended with a 7-9 record. Although Cooper Rush did a good job, it just was not enough to help the Cowboys get through to the playoffs.

The Cowboys’ trio of Prescott, George Pickens, and CeeDee Lamb has clicked really well. While Pickens and Lamb are brilliant wide receivers, if another QB comes in, a level of drop-off in production could be expected.

Hence, the analysis of Prescott missing out directly tied to the success of the Cowboys makes sense. The QB played all games last season, which is why the offense was impressive. However, the historically bad defense is what forced the Cowboys out of the playoff race.

With the team having taken care of that, Schottenheimer will now have no excuses aside from a Prescott injury to justify another playoff miss.

Schottenheimer’s success may depend on the Cowboys’ defensive overhaul

The Cowboys significantly overhauled their defence this past offseason. This started with the hiring of their new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker. Parker served as the passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach with Philadelphia between 2024 and 2025. He won Super Bowl LIX with them.

The Cowboys additionally made a bevy of personnel moves as part of the overhaul. The biggest addition was arguably their first-round draft pick, Caleb Downs, who was regarded by many as one of the best defensive prospects in the draft.

“Caleb Downs is Brian Branch on steroids. So I think you get a highly rated player because Caleb Downs is going to be one of the top three rated players in the draft at a position of need. People will say, No, no, it’s a safety. Caleb downs a different type of safety. You can play him in coverage. You can play over the slot receiver,” EssentiallySport’s Tony Pauline said of Downs.

Their next two selections in the draft were also defensive players, DE Malachi Lawrence and LB Jaishawn Barham. They also traded for talented linebacker Dee Lawrence from the San Francisco 49ers in the middle of the Draft.

“We’ve changed this defense…” Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones said. “What you’re seeing going on right now is a product of three or four or five years or maybe more that we just haven’t been able to ultimately get where we’re trying to go and be a contender. It’s going to be different, it’s going to be fresh; we’ve got a lot of great energy here.”

The reason they had to go through such a massive overhaul was due to the abysmal results last year. According to FOX Sports, the Cowboys finished 30th in the league in total defense and 32nd in scoring defense. Their defense was clearly the main issue for missing the playoffs last season.

With an overhauled defense and a healthy Dak, Schottenheimer will clearly have his sights set on making the playoffs this season. And if that doesn’t happen with a healthy Prescott, Schottenheimer certainly will face heavy scrutiny.