They say that on average it takes 66 days to break a habit. Unfortunately, after watching the Dallas Cowboys lose to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Cowboys have several bad ones and cannot afford that much time to remedy their bad tendencies. The Cowboys’ loss exposed lingering problems with the team that many of us were hoping they could sweep under the rug while still managing to win games.
Regrettably, the lump of shortcomings under the carpet is becoming more and more noticeable. Despite Jerry Jones affirming his belief that he still sees the Cowboys as a playoff team, one wonders if even he believes that after watching his team over the last three weeks. Here are four glaring red flags after the Cowboys fell to 1-2 versus the Bears.
The lack of pass rush
In week one, the Cowboys did a terrific job in coverage to bottle up Jalen Hurts and take his receivers out of the game plan. Yet, they still couldn’t manage to get to him and allowed him to break the pocket to extend plays. Once again, Dallas struggled to contain a mobile quarterback in the pocket, and Caleb Williams made them pay for it. When you thought that after a lengthy drive by the Bears, Dallas may be able to get off the field without giving up any points, Chicago goes for it on 4th-and-goal, and again the Cowboys allow Williams to escape the pocket and find a wide-open D.J. Moore to effectively end the game, putting the Bears ahead 31-14.
Dallas sacked Caleb Williams zero times yesterday, the first time in his career that he has not been sacked. He had a near-perfect passer rating of 142.6. Despite having the fifth-best pressure rate in the NFL at 20.8% per Pro Football Reference, the Cowboys have only mustered 1.3 sacks per game, good for the fourth-worst in the NFL.
The Cowboys can rush four, send a blitz, it doesn’t matter; the pressure is not equating to sacks. A large reason is that the Cowboys are not maintaining good rush lane integrity, and it has presented itself as a concern over the last three weeks, including in the game against the Giants. To throw salt in the wound, Dallas plays Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers next Sunday night in primetime, serving as a blatant reminder of what’s lacking from their defense.
It’s not to say that Dallas should have seller’s remorse, especially so soon after a trade, but it’s impossible not to wonder how much differently things would look if Parsons were still in Dallas. Overall, the pass rush and pass rush discipline are among the most pressing concerns thus far in the season.
Losing the turnover battle
For a defense that is unable to sack the quarterback, they need to be able to get turnovers here and there. The Cowboys struggled mightily in that department as well. The Cowboys had four turnovers against the Bears. Three interceptions by the quarterbacks, Dak Prescott and Joe Milton, and Javonte Williams had the ball ripped away from him on the team’s opening drive. The carelessness in holding onto the football has been prevalent all season.
Against the Eagles, Miles Sanders’ fumble effectively took points off the board, and they fell one possession short in the end. In Williams’ case, Dallas had stopped the Bears on the opening drive and was in the driver’s seat to control the pace of the first quarter with their running game, but the turnover sparked the Bears to take the early lead that they never looked back from.
As of Week 3, the Cowboys have a turnover differential of -5, which tied for the worst in the NFL. For juxtaposition, the Bears were a net minus in turnover differential entering the game against Dallas. If Dallas couldn’t force turnovers against Chicago, then we should be worried. Outside of Donovan Wilson’s interception on a terrible decision by Russell Wilson in last week’s overtime win versus New York, Dallas hasn’t forced any other turnovers. Luckily for Dallas, out of their next five opponents, only one team has a positive turnover differential. If the drought continues, then the red flag may be a dark crimson by then.
The Red Zone
Against the Bears, the Cowboys managed to stay in the game early by kicking a pair of field goals. However, the Bears were able to sustain long drives and come up with touchdowns once they got to the red zone. Dallas was one for four on red zone opportunities yesterday.
The Cowboys have had difficulties capitalizing in opponent territory, which has resulted not just in touchdowns left off the board but also giveaways at the worst possible time. Joe Milton and Dak Prescott combined for two end zone interceptions yesterday. Against the Eagles, Sanders’ fumble was, yes, deep in the red zone. Dallas is middle of the pack in red zone efficiency. They have converted 60% of their red zone chances into touchdowns. That’s not awful, but it is painfully average. However, when the defense is hemorrhaging points the way that it is, that is not sustainable and is one half-step forward and two steps back.
Dallas should be much better in this area with an improved running game, but as we saw, turnovers are a factor, and also penalties, as Tyler Guyton was flagged for a false start on 3rd-and-3 from the Chicago ten-yard line. Further complicating matters is that CeeDee Lamb is injured with an ankle injury. Without Lamb, that means that George Pickens is going to have to be the solution in that area, and whatever miscommunication Pickens and Prescott have, they’ll need to sort through it to get the red zone woes fixed quickly.
Preventing explosive plays
The Cowboys defensively are a powder keg ready to detonate at any moment, surrendering one explosive play after another. Entering the week, you knew that Bears’ head coach Ben Johnson was going to design some gadget plays to exploit the Cowboys’ discipline, primarily in the secondary. Caleb Williams connected with Luther Burden on a 65-yard bomb by way of a flea flicker that caught the Cowboys napping in their secondary. It’s one of the more embarrassing and demoralizing ways to get beaten for a touchdown.
Giving up explosive plays has been far too commonplace for the Cowboys’ defense this year. Burden’s touchdown is the longest, but there have been six passing plays allowed by the Cowboys’ defense of 40 yards or more. Here’s all of them so far this season:
51 yards (Jahan Dotson)
48 yards (Malik Nabers)
50 yards (Wan’Dale Robinson)
52 yards (Darius Slayton)
65 yards (Luther Burden III)
41 yards (D’Andre Swift)
The three last week had to have been the final straw, but it wasn’t, and it appears these things are going to keep happening. When the Cowboys are in Cover 3, cornerbacks aren’t carrying receivers with enough depth, or the deep third safety cannot keep up with wide receivers downfield. Donovan Wilson is a good safety who can support the run and play down in the box, but is not adept at playing that deep third as his strong suit. Malik Hooker is better at it, but the Cowboys may not have the personnel to consistently limit these types of big plays in two-deep coverage, especially with a lack of a pass rush. Already three games in, and the Cowboys may already be in too deep.
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