Jones has fired Wade Phillips after yesterday’s delightful Cowboys collapse (this week, it was Green Bay’s turn to whip the gimp).

It’s of course his prerogative, but note the stat box in the linked story. Phillips leaves with a cumulative record of 34-22, or about .607. That’s stronger than any coach since Barry Switzer (’94-’97, .625 record), and matches St Landry’s career numbers. Sure, a 1-7 start and a five-game slide is bad news, but — and I can’t believe I’m defending the Cowboys here — they were losing close games until Romo got hurt; it’s only after then that we see margins bigger than a TD.

Of course, with 38-year-old Kitna in as the de facto first string, it’s gone to hell. And it’s not hard to see why — they didn’t give him any playing time at all in 2009, and he apparently didn’t take a snap this year until Romo went down. That’s called putting all your eggs in one basket, and while it’s still Phillips’ fault, it’s also epidemic. How often does Peyton’s backup see playing time? Or Eli’s? Or Favre’s?

So, sure, my hatred for the Cowboys loves this move. They’ll bag an unspeakably shitty season, stay out of the playoffs again, and do it while burning a metric ton of money. Without Romo and with a temp for a skipper, there’s no way they’ll bag more than 2 or 3 wins before Christmas. (Their next 8 include the Giants (6-2), New Orleans (6-3), Indy (5-3), and Philly (5-3) twice, with only Arizona (3-5), Detroit (2-6) and the Redskins (4-4) tossed in to even it out.)

But me loving it doesn’t make it smart.