Jerry Jones says Cowboys coach won't be fired after loss but Indy's Shane Steichen has no such pledge Monday

The painful but seemingly inexorable march toward head coach unemployment took another significant step in the careers of Brian Schottenheimer and Shane Steichen on Sunday.

Both coaches are headed to similar dismissals which are deserved and the only reason it hasn't happened already is because the owners of the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys are eccentric and perhaps arrogant enough to believe what is an obvious lost cause can still be redeemed.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after Sunday's come-from-in-front overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals that Schottenheimer remains the Cowboys' coach and firing him is not a looming move.

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"We're not going to get into anything, that's not in my mind at this time," Jones told the usual gaggle of reporters he entertains after home games. "The main thing that's in my mind is we tee it up for those kind of spots to win it. We really do want those situations. Call for it. Bring it on."

The Cowboys got the situations they wanted, leading 14-3 at halftime and 17-10 after three quarters against the Cards. And they blew the game.

The upstart Cardinals rallied behind Gardner Minshew throwing to Michael Wilson or handing it to Tyler Allgeier, who rushed for 147 yards against Dallas after gaining 64 yards the previous three games.

Jones saw his team lose at home for the third time in four games.

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He saw his team fail to string together consecutive wins for the third time this season. Indeed, winning streaks are foreign to the Cowboys under Schottenheimer, because they have won consecutive games only once in his tenure.

And out of all this, after losing to a roster that is less talented and slightly less experienced, Jones blamed practically everyone except Schottenheimer.

"A lot of people let Brian down today," Jones said. "And so for whatever criticism we want to have of Brian, we can all get in line. To use a cliché, that was a total team effort out there for us. And we have to be, for our fans, we have to be better than that when we got our hands on a win and then drop the ball."

So, Jones is staying the course for now. But that doesn't answer the fundamental question why?

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The Colts were similarly trying to find answers to their continued problems after Sunday's blowout 42-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Colts have lost four consecutive games, fired their general manager, traded multiple star players, are on the verge of also trading running back Jonathan Taylor, and Steichen was somehow search