The Dallas Cowboys once again looked lethargic and unprepared, and with that picked up another loss in the 2019 season. Their 31-24 road loss to the Chicago Bears only added to the misery of the season, and wasn’t nearly as close as the final score might lead you to believe.
Dallas opened the game with a strong 17-play touchdown drive, followed by a Jourdan Lewis interception to get some positive momentum going. But it all went downhill from that point forward, and everyone is to blame.
The Cowboys defense collapsed, allowing Mitch Trubisky to have a big game and giving up 24 unanswered points during the second and third quarters. Chicago’s final yardage of 385 wasn’t high, but Dallas couldn’t get any critical stops when the game was still in reach.
Ezekiel Elliott ran for 72 yards on 12 carries in the first half but then had just nine yards the rest of the way. Dallas was forced to pass more as the Bears were running away and it wasn’t a good night; Dak Prescott only completed 55% of his passes and couldn’t convert on third downs.
Brett Maher hit a late field goal but far more critical was his miss from 42 in the second quarter. The miss was demoralizing and forced Dallas into a two-possession deficit at halftime.
There’s only so much to say here. The Cowboys fall to 6-7, dropping below .500 for the first in 2019. But even if their record didn’t indicate it already, they’ve been a losing team for a while now.
Now they get a long rest before hosting the Los Angeles Rams next week. Is that extra time for Jason Garrett to try and get some things figured, or will the long break give Jerry Jones more impetus to make a coaching change?
Ladies and gentlemen, your NFC East-leading Cowboys!
What a goofy, awful season this has been.
Dak looked particularly bad in this game. I was highly skeptical of him coming in to this season and was pleasantly surprised by his effectiveness early in the season. Sadly last night his struggles with inaccurate passes returned in a big way. So many throws were off target or behind receivers. I thought this was something he had worked out. He will never be an elite QB until he fixes this issue with his game for good.
I agree that his performance was disappointing, but I also wonder about how much of the issue is accuracy over timing and being on the same page with receivers. The pass to Olawale, for example, was all about communication. We’ve seen Dak throw absolute dimes at times, so why it’s so inconsistent is very perplexing.