CHICAGO — The Cowboys don’t play the Bears very often, and we know now that’s a darned good thing for Dallas. They have fewer games against Chicago this century than any other conference rival, and on Sunday at Soldier Field, the Cowboys played — especially on defense — as if they had no clue what might be coming.
It’s one thing to lose CeeDee Lamb, their greatest offensive weapon, to an early ankle injury on his first touch of the game. But it’s another thing to play week after week without Micah Parsons, giving even something less than All-Pro quarterbacks all day in the pocket to find receivers, to execute gadget plays and, eventually, to pick apart the Cowboys, 31-14.
It was Ben Johnson’s first victory as a head coach, but he showed as Detroit’s coordinator in a 47-9 win at AT&T Stadium last October he knew exactly how to attack the Cowboys defense. With fewer weapons in Chicago, he didn’t put on that kind of show but still got four touchdown passes from second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, who was battered and bruised on a regular basis last year under coach Matt Eberflus. On Sunday, the former Heisman winner completed 19 of 28 passes for 298 yards, the aforementioned four TDs and was never sacked.
Cowboys
Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Get the latest news.
SIGN UP
Or with:
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
He opened Chicago’s scoring with a 35-yard touchdown to Rome Odunze when Trevon Diggs slipped at the line of scrimmage trying to jam the receiver. He followed with a 65-yard flea-flicker to rookie Luther Burden III, and from that point forward, there wasn’t a tremendous doubt as to which way this game was going to go. Even after the Cowboys tied the score at 14-14, they found a way to fall behind by 10 at the half and, for the second road game, went scoreless after halftime.
Put Lamb back in the offense — he is not expected to miss significant playing time — and that unit can function. The running game already is better than I would have imagined. But Dak Prescott showed a frustrating unwillingness to do anything to test the Chicago secondary after Lamb went out. That’s how tight end Jake Ferguson ended up with 13 catches for only 6.3 yards per reception.
Advertisement
Still, it’s the defense that already has this looking like a lost season for Dallas. The 450 yards Russell Wilson piled up in an overtime loss at Dallas last week was no aberration. That’s 748 yards and seven touchdown passes from two quarterbacks who are not going to compete for the league passing title.
“Each person has to resolve to be more focused on their assignments,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “I think that’s how you fix it. And I look forward to it getting better. I think we’ve got a lot of room for improvement. My saying it doesn’t make it so. I’ve given you how to do it, but they’ve got to go out and do it.”
Diggs, who was questionable to play and missed some time with another injury during the game, said the Cowboys keep seeing something new from each opponent. “Whatever is called, we have to play it. We have to get off the field on third down. We’ve got to eliminate the big plays.”
Advertisement
The Cowboys will one day get their best cornerback, DaRon Bland, back in the lineup, although he has missed 12 of 19 games since the start of last year. He can’t be viewed as the savior here. Besides, he doesn’t rush the passer, and neither does anyone else in Dallas.
Advertisement
“We weren’t getting to the quarterback plus we weren’t covering,” Jones said. “That’s a bad combination.”
After losing a close game in Philadelphia and then surviving to beat the Giants in overtime, this game had few redeeming qualities on the Cowboys’ side. “It’s humbling and it sucks,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said, “but we didn’t play very good.”
For as long as they possibly can, the Cowboys will choose to view this as something that’s not likely to be the norm. That may not last beyond next Sunday night when the Green Bay Packers and Parsons — suddenly 2-1 after losing a shocker in Cleveland on Sunday — come to town.
Advertisement
“We’ll be ready to play them,” said the man who made Parsons a Packer. “But I don’t care who we’re playing, we’ve got to play better in the secondary.”
The only way the Cowboys can conceivably stop this run of 300-yard passing days (or 298 in Williams’ case) is to give up more yardage on the ground. And even their ability to defend there looked awfully suspect when the Bears put together a 19-play scoring drive in the third quarter in which Johnson called 11 straight running plays.
Entering the game winless in his new role as head coach, Johnson was having some fun at the expense of the Cowboys’ defense Sunday. Show me some reason why that’s not going to be the norm for opposing play-callers for the next 14 games.
X: @TimCowlishaw
AdvertisementRelated StoriesView MoreCowboys WR CeeDee Lamb sustains ankle sprain during Dallas’ Week 3 meeting with BearsNational reaction from Cowboys-Bears: Dallas defense helps Caleb Williams get on trackFull coverage: Dallas Cowboys run out of answers, leave Chicago with Week 3 lossFive takeaways from Cowboys-Bears: Defense burned early, often in great Chicago torchingCowboys CB Trevon Diggs, DT Kenny Clark sustain injuries in second half vs. Bears
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Read more on The Dallas Morning News
