Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has insisted over the last few weeks that head coach Wade Phillips’ job is safe, regardless of how the team finished the regular season. But, after an embarrassing drubbing by the rival Philadelphia Eagles cost the Cowboys a playoff spot, speculation is that coaching job security in Dallas has reached a patch of very thin ice.

Jones had said loudly and publicly that Phillips was his man, even if the preseason NFC conference favorite to reach the Super Bowl missed the playoffs. But the owner is known for his desire to win immediately, and no one expected the disaster that happened Sunday.

Although Las Vegas sportsbooks do not set lines on coaches’ jobs, and online casinos had not yet updated their numbers from today’s game, several local bookies predicted a drop in payout on bets that Phillips is fired from 4-1 before the game to even money tonight.

Online Casino Advisory sports analyst Edmund Crumley said, “About the only saving grace for Wade Phillips is Jerry Jones swearing to the world how safe his job is. I’d bet Jones wishes he’d kept quiet for once, because there’s no way he thought the game could go that poorly.”

The Eagles won the game 44 to 6, and it wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Cowboys looked ill-prepared and emotionally flat, and yielded two seventy-plus yard fumble returns by the Eagle defense, all of which speaks to coaching.

But Jones has crafted a bed he may have to sleep in. His meddling in personnel and support for roster cancer Terrell Owens led to Hall of Famer Bill Parcells’ departure, and Jones purposely replaced him with a more malleable Phillips.

The result has been a steady decline in team discipline, with players feuding in the media and inconsistent performances by a talented and expensive roster. And Jason Garrett, head-coach-in-waiting, has lost his bloom as his offense has seemed confused as to its identity this year.

Dallas fans have seen this before, during the years when Barry Switzer coached the team; then, as now, the lingering effects of superior coaching carried the team after the leader’s departure, only to slowly disintegrate in a mass of egos and infighting. It’s likely to get much worse before it gets better.