Ten thoughts on the Bears Windy City blowout of the Cowboys

Oh, brother. What a terrible game. Don’t look now, folks, but the Dallas Cowboys have themselves a three-game losing streak. The wheels seem to be coming off this football team as there is nothing about how they’ve played in recent games that gives fans any reason to be hopeful. It will be ten days before the Cowboys play another down of football, but before that happens, here are ten thoughts on this very ugly Thursday night game.

1. Deja Vu all over again

For the second straight week, the Cowboys took their opening possession 75 yards for a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead in the game. It was an impressive first drive. They ran 14 plays, took up nearly nine minutes off the clock, and converted all four of their third downs.

But just like last week, the momentum shifted in the game as the Bears went on to score 24 unanswered points. It was as if we were watching a re-run of last Thursday’s game where the Cowboys teased us at first, only to stink it up the rest of the game. That’s not very nice of them.

2. There’s nothing to see here

The Cowboys defense was atrocious. They couldn’t tackle anyone, they couldn’t make stops on third down, and they made Mitchell Trubisky look like Lamar Jackson. It was just a terrible showing all around. The only thing they were good at was grabbing facemasks.

The Bears put up 382 yards of offense, controlled the clock, and allowed 151 yards rushing. The defense did just about everything wrong. There was nothing worth seeing in this one.

3. Good at making teams look good

Why does it seem like every team has their best game of the season against the Cowboys? Even if a team is struggling, the Cowboys can fix them right up. The New York Jets were 0-4 until the Cowboys strolled into town. Buffalo looked like a great team last week, and now they’ve made the 6-6 Bears team look like a playoff contender.

The Cowboys just have a knack for making other teams look good, and we all get a front row seat. It sucks.

4. Moving on from Maher

Another game, another missed kick from Brett Maher. It’s sad to watch and we really are rooting for the guy, but something has gotten in his head and that is the kiss of death for a kicker. Fans will say it’s long overdue and those fans are probably right. He’s got a big leg, but it doesn’t matter how far it goes if it’s always drifting wide right.

Ten days is a long time between games and it leaves the team plenty of time to find a replacement. Keep in mind though, that kicker is probably also not good.

5. Moving on from Garrett?

Jerry Jones has to be at the pinnacle of his frustration as he is scratching his head wondering what could possibly be wrong with his Cowboys. This sure seems like a low point and all the talk over these next ten days will be around how he needs to make a coaching change? Will it happen? Not likely.

The Cowboys certainly seem like a lost team, but letting Garrett go right now would not be a wise thing. This team still has something play for and no matter how angry you are, giving the keys to an interim coach right now would not be a wise move.

6. Dak was bad

The stat sheet will show another 300+ yard game thanks to some garbage time, but overall - the Cowboys quarterback did not play well. He was off target on several throws, and was lucky he didn’t have a pick returned for a touchdown. Even passes he completed were thrown a little behind his receiver.

Prescott’s performance puts him at a new career high for passing yards as he’s now at 4,122 yards on the season, but it was not a good outing. The Cowboys young quarterback is in a little bit of a rut right now which is not what we want to see considering how important these December football games are.

7. They won the turnover battle!

After not creating a turnover in four straight games, the Cowboys defense caused two of them on Thursday. Jourdan Lewis had a great toe-tap interception that foiled the Bears first scoring rive attempt. They even stripped Bears running back David Montgomery despite tugging on his facemask and it looking like his forward progress had been stopped. And the offense didn’t commit a single turnover.

Sadly, this +2 turnover margin went to waste as the team did too many other things wrong. If it’s not one thing, it’s another with this team, and it’s extremely frustrating to deal with.

8. Attacking the weakness

How many times do we have to watch Jaylon Smith in coverage? If it was up to Matt Nagy, he’d do it all day, as he saw this as a clear mismatch. In fact, the Bears offense attacked him on three straight plays, and the third time was a charm. Again and again, the Cowboys defense weren’t in the right position to make the plays they needed to make. When teams are rolling out tight end screens because they know the defense is sending the farm to get to the quarterback, that’s never a good thing. When opponents can run the read option and have the quarterback keep it over and over again for nice gains, that’s just a lack of discipline.

The defense is not playing with the right amount of concentration. It looks like they are overaggressive and trying to do too much. Needless to say, they’re not playing well and it’s becoming an epidemic. This kind of stuff continues to happen and it’s a direct reflection of the coaching staff.

9. Darian Thompson had a good game

There wasn’t a lot to be happy about, but at least backup safety Darian Thompson has been playing well in Jeff Heath’s absence. He finished the game with 11 tackles, eight of them solo, and even record a sack for the second straight game.

While nobody is too jacked about Heath returning to the lineup, it’s good to know that their next man up at the position is a perfectly viable replacement.

10. Still leading the East!

Just kidding. We’re not going to do that one again. You know where this team is at in terms of getting into the playoffs, but at this point - would you really want to watch them play another game if this is what they’re doing? Unless something changes real soon, it’s the beginning of the end for this 2019 Cowboys season.