CHICAGO- The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Chicago Bears 31-24 in an uninspired performance. The team now has back-to-back disastrous Thursday losses.
Once again, the Cowboys got off to a fast start with a dominant 17-play opening drive and then in the words of Jason Garrett, the team “ didn’t play well enough.”
Two, 12-yard gains by Blake Jarwin set up Ezekiel Elliott’s two-yard touchdown rush on the offense’s first possession. The offensive line did a great job blocking up front and Zeke took advantage of the wide-open gap to the end zone. Offensively, Dallas started off with a solid ground attack with Zeke accumulating 8 carries for 56 yards on the first drive.
On the defensive side of the ball, Jourdan Lewis was able to get his feet down on a toe drag interception catch on the Bears’ opening offensive drive. The Cowboys got the ball and things escalated in a downward spiral. The team was out of sync in every way.
The offense went five-straight drives without a score:
Punt
Punt
Missed field goal
Punt
Punt
Following the game Dak Prescott remarked, “ We had to play from behind and we have not been good at that lately.”
The defense allowed 24 unanswered points with missed tackles left and right. Dallas’ D made Mitch Trubisky look like a Hall of Fame quarterback. He consistently was able to extend drives when he broke the pocket on the run. Trubisky finished with 10 carries for 63 yards and a rushing touchdown as the tackling woes continued throughout the ballgame. In addition, he completed 23/31 for 244 passing yards, three touchdowns, and an interception for a 115.5 rating.
“ Guys are trying to do too much, “ Jason Garrett stated. “Specifically on the defensive side of the ball. We have to become more disciplined…didn’t defend the run well enough. “
The Cowboys played a lot of single-high safety defense and were getting beat in the deep middle of the field. Coming into the ballgame, Dallas was ranked in the top 10 on offense and defense, the only team to be ranked in the top on both sides of the ball besides the Ravens and the 49ers. Now, the team sits at a 6-7 record with a talent-filled roster and is running out of time for excuses. There is no reason this team should not be winning, but yet they have underperformed and not met the high expectations.
Changes have to be made or the team will continue to go downhill. First off, the Cowboys have to fix the kicking and special team’s situation. The game against Chicago was almost a mirror image of the embarrassing loss to the Bills the Thursday before with critical penalties, missed tackles, and a lack of third down conversions.
The Cowboys did make it into the end zone twice in the fourth quarter but the game was already won by Chicago at that point. The Bears dominated the game and wanted the win more. Dallas has had the worst past two-game stretch that I can recall but yet still lead the NFC East. A difficult pill to swallow. The team has to string some wins together.
