The Washington Redskins had found their next head coach and the New York Giants were well into the interview process before the Cowboys stumbled into the post-Jason Garrett era with no announcement of a dismissal but a quiet interview of former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.

And isn’t it fitting that the Cowboys begin looking for Garrett’s successor with THE most Garrett-like coach available? A team that needs someone slightly better than Garrett — I’ll explain why that’s all they need in a moment — begins the hunt with a coach slightly better in playoff appearances (7 to 3) but significantly worse than Garrett in postseason wins (2 to 0).

Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy was up next, and who knows whether he’s really near the top of the club’s wish list or just someone to add credibility to a potential parade of coaches through The Star?

So what is it the Joneses are looking for? I say the answer is someone slightly better than Garrett, and I know fans are hoping for much more. But if they just take the first step toward finding someone who can win that last or that pivotal game, it will clear a huge hurdle for this franchise.

Suddenly, Philadelphia’s Doug Pederson is the only coach with any staying power in the division. That comes from not just a Super Bowl but three straight trips to the playoffs. The Cowboys haven’t managed such a thing since a five-year run ended in 1996. Even if the Eagles don’t last long in this postseason, they made it while battling through the kind of debilitating injury list the Cowboys haven’t had since 2015.

The NFC East went 24-40 this season. Every other division won at least 30 games and most won quite a bit more. The teams in the East were 12-28 outside the division. Philadelphia got to the playoffs by being the only team to get to 4-6 outside the division. The Cowboys and Redskins were 3-7 and the Giants were 2-8.

Incredible really.

The Eagles figure to be better next season simply from the experience of having won while at 60% capacity. Washington has a more serious look with Ron Rivera in as head coach and Bruce Allen out as team president. Between Rivera, defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, the likely drafting of Ohio State pass rusher Chase Young and all those other defensive players the Redskins have accumulated the last three seasons, Washington has to at least be a defensive threat while the team waits for Dwayne Haskins to develop at quarterback.

The New York Giants finished just slightly ahead of Washington but showed some growth with rookie quarterback Daniel Jones and an extremely young core while suffering huge injuries on the offensive side much like the Eagles. Not to get too carried away with it, but they seem like a team on the rise at least.

Still, I don’t see any of these three teams as unbeatable or the kind of team that will be picked next summer as a Super Bowl participant. The Eagles maybe, but certainly not the other two. The East is a long way from becoming a beast.

That’s what disturbs you most about Garrett’s decade in charge. The won-loss record (superior to Hall of Fame finalists Tom Flores, Dick Vermeil and Dan Reeves) should have been good enough to produce more than two playoff wins in nine years. Time after time, Garrett whiffed on relatively easy opportunities.

Had the Cowboys beaten the Eagles in Week 16 (Dallas was a slight favorite), they would have been division champs at 9-7. With that record, I’m assuming a win over Washington in a fairly useless season finale because the Redskins showed up with their JV squad as it was. But Garrett’s career could have been wildly different if he could have reached that not-so-magical 9-7 mark with a little regularity.

In his first three full seasons, Garrett had the opportunity on the final Sunday each year to win the East by getting to 9-7. That’s it. No one was asking him to put together 12-4 teams in order to reach the playoffs. But his teams lost to New York and to Washington and to Philadelphia to let playoff dreams slip away. Garrett solidified himself instead as a coach who could get a team to 8-8 and not beyond.

While he eventually pushed teams to the playoffs in 2014, 2016 and 2018, he could never back it up the following season. Injuries to Tony Romo and Dez Bryant and some failed ideas about replacement quarterbacks made a mess of the 2015 season while 2017 was more like the rest. He needed to get to 10-6 that time, a step up from the usual 9-7 target but came up a game short.

I don’t know that the next Cowboys coach will be so fortunate. It’s entirely possible a 9-7 record wins the division again in 2020, but we can’t expect this low bar to remain in place forever.

So whether it’s McCarthy or Lewis (not likely), Lincoln Riley or Urban Meyer (more interesting but still unlikely) or perhaps people with ties to the franchise such as Mike Zimmer or Jason Witten — we can explore these names and others when the Cowboys’ slow-rolling interview process gains a little momentum — the task will get tougher somewhere down the road.

But, for right now, a little better than Garrett could go a heck of a long way.