Coach Jason Garrett's future murky with Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jason Garrett says he doesn’t know if he’ll be coach of the Dallas Cowboys next year, and owner Jerry Jones won’t even acknowledge that there’s a decision to make regarding the leadership of an underachieving club.

The mystery of a team that sagged under the weight of high expectations now becomes the mystery of what happens to a coach who has an expiring contract and never took the Cowboys beyond the divisional round of the playoffs in nine full seasons.

The Cowboys were eliminated from the postseason despite a 47-16 win over Washington on Sunday because Philadelphia won the NFC East by beating the New York Giants.

Dallas (8-8) lost control of its postseason fate with a 17-9 loss to the Eagles last week. Now the fate of Garrett is in the hands of Jones.

“I have no idea,” Garrett said when asked after the game if he would be coach of the Cowboys for a 10th full season in 2020.

Jones turned aside numerous attempts to offer a timeframe on a decision, essentially saying any of those questions imply that he’s made a decision when perhaps there isn’t even a decision to make.

“I don’t have a shareable timetable,” Jones said. “The proper question here is: ‘Do I have anything that I would share as far as my timetable, my thoughts or any work that I’ve done, we’ve done, any work preparing for the future?’ All of that I would not comment on or share at this time.”

Dak Prescott threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Michael Gallup, while falling 1 yard short of Tony Romo’s club record of 4,903 yards passing in a season.

Dallas could have made the playoffs without a winning record for the third time in franchise history. Instead, the Eagles won the division for the second time in three years by beating the Giants 34-17.

It’s the fourth time in Garrett’s nine full seasons that Dallas has finished .500. The first three ran consecutively from 2011-13, with the Cowboys losing the finale each time when a win would have put them in the playoffs.