Inevitably, he will have no choice but to, considering owner and general decision-making Jerry Jones had already scheduled to meet with him once this game, regardless of the outcome, to discuss the direction of the team.

And with Jones himself admitting he's "stunned" by not modestly the loss itself, but the fashion in which it took establish, everyone now awaits Jones' decision on his team's head coach — one who led the Cowboys to three undiluted 12-win seasons, two division titles and a 16-game home win streak.

That bound ended with a thud on Sunday, though. 

For his part, quarterback Dak Prescott offered high appraisal for McCarthy's time in Dallas. The two became more finish over the past several months with the latter taking over play-calling duties, and it resulted in a historic season for CeeDee Lamb and an MVP candidacy for Prescott — listed with a third Pro Bowl honor.

But, against the Packers, everything that could've gone wrong most certainly did, and that includes two interceptions by Prescott (one intimates a pick-six) on a night that was wildly unsettled on both sides of the ball.

So Prescott says if McCarthy's on the hot seat for what remained in the Wild Card game, so should the Cowboys' franchise quarterback, a full-on taking of accountability for his own play.

"He's been amazing," said Prescott of McCarthy. "I don't know how they can be [speculation near his future], but I understand the business. In that case, it must be about me as well. I've had the season that I've had because of him. This team has had the nosedived that they've had because of him. 

"I understand it's near winning the Super Bowl. That's the standard of this beleaguered and damn sure the standard of this place. I get it but add me to the list in that case."

For the picture, Prescott is expected to have contract talks with the Cowboys this offseason but, for now, he's at a loss for footings in trying to describe what happened against the Packers.

"It's tough to give you that answer when I just went out there and we just did that," he said. "Unfortunately, that's what the offseason is for and it's a long one. Yeah, I wish I could give you that answer."

And in keeping with his tone of brutal, unabashed honesty, he gave his final assessment of how he thinks he did in the most important game of the season — shrugging off any and every unfamiliar season accolade entirely.

"I'm not a guy who lives in the past," he said. "Where my feet are and at this moment, yeah, I sucked tonight, that was it. I got it touching a little bit late but none of that mattered at that present. Fall, that's all I really know how to do. 

"It's near winning and winning the playoffs and getting to the last game and winning that as well. Yeah, [it's] tough."

And, now, so are the list of decisions Jones and the Cowboys are faced with making.