It can’t be easy to maintain optimism following a 47-9 loss in the NFL, but that is exactly what Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is doing as his team looks to bounce back from the blowout defeat at the hands of the Detroit Lions.

ESPN’s Todd Archer shared McCarthy’s comments from his Monday press conference:

“At the end of the day if we totally don’t believe it’s about us, it’ll always be about us and play to who we are, what we do, how we do it, then we’re not going to get to where we want to go. And I believe we will. I think this is an opportunity that we relish. I know I relish it. And I think they do too.

“So this is a place that a lot of good can come out of it. Been here before. And I think this is a really good opportunity for our leadership. I think it’s an excellent opportunity for our young guys to continue to play. It’s an excellent opportunity for those guys to build off some of the things they have done well. Because this will pay forward. In my experience it always has. When you play young players this much and play this many different players this much, I think the long game definitely has a chance to be very bright.”

While some may not believe McCarthy, he is speaking from a place of experience.

Archer noted this is the fourth time in his career that one of his teams started 3-3, and only one of those teams ended up missing the playoffs. In fact, the 2010 Green Bay Packers ended up winning the Super Bowl after their uneven start.

If that is what is in store for this year’s Cowboys, there will need to be drastic improvement.

Dallas offered little resistance on either side of the ball against the Lions, as Jared Goff threw for 315 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions while David Montgomery scored twice on the ground. The Cowboys didn’t even manage a single touchdown and instead only scored three field goals.

It was the second blowout loss of the season for the NFC East team, which also lost 44-19 against the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.

Things don’t get much easier with the upcoming road game against the reigning NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco beat the Cowboys by 32 points last season, so the coach’s optimism will immediately be put to the test.