It's the dawn of a new era in North Texas, with the Dallas Cowboys agreeing to terms with former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy on Monday following NFL Wild Card Weekend. The move caps one of the strangest weeks in the history of the Cowboys franchise, driven by their decision to not make a formal announcement on the future of Jason Garrett.

As I reported immediately following the conclusion of the team's 2019 season, the expectation was the Cowboys would part ways with Garrett following another disappointing campaign, but they simply refused to do it in a timely manner. Instead, they moved forward while standing still at the same time, having back channel talks with possible candidates with Garrett still under contract in a situation that can only be described as an episode of "Black Mirror."

The goal of owner Jerry Jones was to send Garrett out respectfully, but the opposite is what ultimately occurred. The manner in which they courted McCarthy was basically a slap in the face, and Hall of Famer and Cowboys legend Troy Aikman hurled scathing criticism toward the organization because of it.

"He committed everything he had to the organization and to doing the best job that he could," Aikman told Fox 4 in Dallas, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. "He made it a priority and he committed himself. Breakups are always hard -- we all understand that -- at whatever level they occur, but I don't know that after all that he gave and committed to this organization that he received the same in return. When the organization was unwilling, for whatever reasons, and I don't know the back stories to it all, but when the organization was unwilling to come out publicly and say, 'We are seeking a new coach,' and yet at the same time reports are coming out that they're interviewing potential candidates for the head coaching position -- that's disappointing. 

"I think in a lot of ways it shines a light on some of the dysfunction, if you will, within the organization and kind of how they got to the point that they're in now." 

Garrett was a member of the Cowboys for more than 20 years as either a player, assistant coach or head coach, and his late father was a longtime scout with the organization. Jones had nothing but praise for Garrett once the season wrapped -- despite the obvious barreling down the pike -- but issued nothing more than a written statement once the decision to part ways was finally made. 

It's not the first time Aikman has chided his former team, also noting why there's no chance Jones would consider him for a general manager position -- Jones firing back by noting Aikman would run the Cowboys the same way, if given the opportunity. The reverence between the two can't be debated, but the three-time Super Bowl winner is not only displeased with how the team has been run as of late, he's now upset with how they handled a regime change even he agrees was necessary.

For him, it's not about the decision to move on from his friend and former backup QB -- it's about how poorly it all went down.