Cowboys Need Johnson Back to Reach Temple

The smartest move Jerry Jones can make right now is to go see his former friend Jimmy Johnson and get down on his knees and offer Johnson his old job back.

The Dallas Cowboys are not going to win the Super Bowl with Barry Switzer coaching.

They will with Jimmy Johnson.

This has happened before with an egomaniacal owner and an equally egocentric coach. George Steinbrenner kept rehiring Billy Martin.

The only question Jerry Jones has to answer is: How much more important is his pride than winning the Super Bowl? Because for all the money he’s spent on players, Jones is backing the wrong horse at coach.

A month ago, following the stunning loss to San Francisco, Jones said Switzer would remain the Cowboys’ coach “unless he is hit by a truck or gets shot.” The implication was that Switzer’s job was safe unless there was a calamity. On Sunday there was.

From his second-guesser perch on TV (egged on by Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long, the Heckyll and Jeckyll of Fox), Johnson said he never would have tried for that one yard from the Cowboys 29. “You kick the football,” Johnson said smugly. But the truth is had Johnson been coaching the Cowboys last Sunday in Philadelphia, they would have made that yard.

I have to admit I’d have made the same call as Switzer.

The first time.

He’s got an offensive line that averages 325 pounds; you’re running behind elephants. With the advantage of knowing the snap count, they’re supposed to be able to push the defense back at least a yard. In Emmitt Smith he’s got the best, most consistent NFL running back since Jim Brown. And if that isn’t enough he has a great quarterback, a great tight end and a great wide receiver, so the defense can’t load up on the run. These players are paid extremely well to make one yard wherever it is on the field.

But once you miss on that call, and by the strangest quirk of fate you get another chance, because the two minute warning should have been given -- well, that’s the voice of God saying, “Barry, bubeleh, punt the ball.”

Stuff me once, shame on you.

Stuff me twice, send me back to Norman, Okla., in a sack.

Not the same play, Barry. You’ve broken faith with your defense, and allowed your offense to be humiliated. They have a word for coaches who do that: unemployed.

I’m guessing Jerry Jones can find Jimmy Johnson if he tries. That houseboat, or whatever Jimmy’s living on, probably has a cell phone. And Jerry can try to smooth things over with his former coach and win the Super Bowl. Or he can stay with Barry Switzer and fiddle as the Cowboys burn.

The unraveling of the Cowboys has thrown open what should have been a one-horse race. Now the 49ers become the favorite to win the Super Bowl. But without Deion Sanders, Ricky Watters and William Floyd the 49ers are demonstrably not the team they were last year.

The rest of the pack need look only at that midseason swoon when San Francisco lost three games in four weeks, to ravingly mediocre Indianapolis, New Orleans and Carolina (combined record 20-22). So suddenly there’s optimism in far-flung places such as Pittsburgh and Kansas City and Green Bay, and even Detroit, where six weeks ago Wayne Fontes was warned not to lose anymore, and incredibly he hasn’t.

Once Dallas showed vulnerability, any number of teams could look into the mirror and feel emboldened. This includes Buffalo and Philadelphia, who just last year were finding the grip uneasy on the slippery slope. And Miami, which was comatose as recently as two weeks ago.

With the parity in the NFL this year (12 teams are bunched at 8-6 or 7-7) who’s to say that Denver, San Diego, Oakland, Minnesota or even Atlanta isn’t a Super Bowl possibility? No, none of them is as good as Dallas or San Francisco, but how on earth did Dallas stumble to 10-4 with all that talent?