Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Who wins tonight… Los Angeles or Kansas City? The Los Angeles Chargers play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. FanDuel has the Chiefs as 3.5-point favorites over the Chargers. Final score prediction: Chiefs 23 – Chargers 20. Check out FanDuel for all of your NFL betting needs. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys did not pick up a ton of playoff help throughout Week 14. The Dallas Cowboys remain mathematically alive for a playoff spot this NFL season. As this is the case we are continuing to have conversations about their standing within the NFC, where they are, what they need, so on and so forth. Obviously this season has been trying so it is possible that you prefer a different outcome. Please recognize that the following conversation pertains to the potential of this team reaching the postseason. With our full and proper disclaimer now out of the way, Week 14 sort of stunk for the Dallas Cowboys. There were eight total things we were rooting for relative to the NFC side of things and only three of them went our way. The bulk of the reason why we were rooting against the teams that we were was to eliminate would-be threats to NFC Wild Card positions so as to open up more opportunity for the Cowboys. It is certainly helpful that both the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals lost, but Green Bay’s defeat hardly helps in the same way. The Packers seem assured to take home at least one of the top Wild Card spots, if the Cowboys are going to squeeze themselves into this thing it is likely going to be as the final one. Even though Arizona and Atlanta lost in Week 14 other Wild Card contenders in the Rams, 49ers and (to a lesser degree) the Saints all won. The Cowboys have a chance to pull even with Atlanta, Arizona and San Francisco on Monday night before heading to Carolina next Sunday. ESPN Thankfully next week offers a game between the Rams and 49ers (the first of the week on Thursday night) which means one of them will have to lose. Obviously (as noted) the Cowboys have dug themselves quite the hole to pull themselves out of this season, but if they can continue to stack wins then it is possible that enough chaos will unfold around them to make this a legitimate conversation. The Cowboys will visit the Panthers next Sunday. It is possible that a week from today we are talking about a .500 football team. There is a bit to go between now and that hypothetical, but again things can happen quickly. The next step for Dallas is on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images Stopping Joe Burrow is seemingly impossible The Dallas Cowboys are on a winning streak right now, and their defense is a big part of it. Since Micah Parsons returned to action, they’re 10th in EPA/play allowed after ranking 30th prior to his return. But they’ll face their toughest challenge of the year on Monday night when they host the Cincinnati Bengals. When the Bengals decided to move on from longtime head coach Marvin Lewis, they sought a fresh and innovative approach, particularly on offense. That led them to be one of the very first teams to try and pick from the Sean McVay coaching tree. Cincinnati hired Zac Taylor, who had been the Rams’ quarterbacks coach during a Super Bowl run in 2018 after assisting with wide receivers in McVay’s first year leading the team. Prior to that, Taylor had worked with quarterbacks for the Dolphins under Joe Philbin, and he was promoted to interim offensive coordinator not long after Dan Campbell became the interim head coach in 2015. That was pretty much all people knew about Taylor when he was tabbed to lead the Bengals. Fans wouldn’t learn a whole lot more about him until later, as the Bengals went 2-14 in Taylor’s first year on the job. But the terrible season landed them the top draft pick, which they used on Joe Burrow. The Heisman-winning quarterback showed promise as a rookie, but a torn ACL ended his season early and sentenced the Bengals to a 4-11-1 finish. Burrow returned in 2021, and Cincinnati added his college receiver Ja’Marr Chase in the draft, and suddenly things started clicking for Taylor. They finished 10-7 and won the AFC North for the first time in seven years before going on a run to the Super Bowl. They ultimately lost to Taylor’s mentor, McVay and his Rams, but the strong season cemented the notion that Taylor and Burrow were a winning combination. Taylor, who calls the plays on offense, has built much of his offensive identity around the Shanahan style offense that McVay popularized in Los Angeles. Of all the coaches across the league who hail from McVay’s tree, Taylor is probably the one who hews most closely to his former boss, even as McVay has tinkered with his own scheme. Early on, that meant a ton of outside zone and play-action for the Bengals with Taylor calling the shots. But when Burrow came onto the scene, things started to shift. Play-action dropped drastically in Burrow’s second year, and they’re now near the bottom of the league in play-action rate. Taylor has also evolved the run game to feature more gap schemes as a result of the changes in offensive line personnel. Taylor’s willingness to – ahem – tailor his scheme to Burrow has proven largely successful. The chemistry between Burrow and Chase is special, too. In the four seasons they’ve been playing together in Cincinnati, Burrow has a 116.3 passer rating when throwing to Chase. His career passer rating is 99.7, to give you an idea of how good the two are. The Bengals are one of the most pass happy offenses in the league, throwing the ball 64.3% of the time. They’re also one of the most explosive units, currently ranking inside the top 10 in scoring, yards, and EPA/play. Burrow has also thrown the second-most 20+ yard touchdowns this year. As good as the Bengals have been through the air, their ground game hasn’t held up its end of the bargain. Cincinnati is 27th in rushing yards per game and 22nd in EPA/rush, and only seven teams have fewer runs of 10+ yards. The decision to trade Joe Mixon in the offseason has not panned out, as Chase Brown ranks in the middle of the league in rushing success rate and the team as a whole is 26th in yards before contact. That makes for an ideal matchup for Dallas, or at least on paper it does. The Cowboys run defense has remained dismal even as they’ve played better in recent weeks, but their pass defense is hitting its stride. Since Parsons came back, Dallas is third in the league in EPA/pass. They’re also sixth in pressure rate, rarely giving the quarterback time to throw. For what it’s worth, Burrow has been one of the very best throwing under pressure this year, and very few defenses have been able to contain his connection with Chase or even Tee Higgins. The Cowboys likely aren’t going to be able to shut this passing game down, but they should be able to win enough drives to keep things close, especially if they don’t have to worry as much about the run game.

Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images AFTERNOON GAMES LET’S GO. More NFL action in the late afternoon slot. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images Let’s have a good Sunday. The Cowboys play on Monday night, so enjoy some other NFL games. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Here are the things we’ll be paying the most attention to when Dallas and Cincinnati meet on Monday night. The Dallas Cowboys will be back on Monday Night Football for the second and final time this year when they host the Cincinnati Bengals. The Cowboys are riding a two-game winning streak while the Bengals have lost three straight. The Cowboys also have a nice win streak against those striped helmet-wearing fellas, winning the last five contests against them. Cincy’s last win against Dallas was 20 years ago when Carson Palmer outdueled Vinny Testaverde. But don’t let the record fool you. This will be a tough game for the Cowboys. Here are five things to watch when the Bengals head into AT&T on Monday night. 1. DOUBLE THE TROUBLE The Cowboys have faced some great wide receivers this year, but never have they faced two of them on the same team. The WR duo of JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins are remarkable as they both are in the top five in yards per game. Not only do they rack up the yards, but they find the endzone frequently. Higgins has a touchdown catch in each of his last three games, and Chase has six touchdown catches over his last three games. The duo is a problem. Cincy features a dangerous passing attack as Joe Burrow’s 3,337 passing yards leads the NFL this season. The Cowboys might have Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland on the field together for the first time since Week 2 of last year. Diggs has missed the last two games with a groin and knee injury. The defense also lost depth corner Josh Butler for the season after he was injured on Thanksgiving, but they’ll get Amani Oruwariye back. Regardless of the arrangement of corners available, keeping the Bengals’ talented receiving duo in check will be a challenge. 2. CHASE IN SPACE Last week, we discussed the importance of not allowing rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. to get loose in space and the Cowboys’ defense did a good job keeping his runs to a minimum. They will have a similar challenge this week against second-year back Chase Brown. Since taking over the starting job after Zac Moss got hurt, Brown has been a grinder, churning yards both as a rusher and receiver. He has 90+ scrimmage yards in each of his last four games. Brown isn’t a back who will nickel and dime the defense to death, but he’s always a big play waiting to happen. He has a run of 20+ yards in six of his last nine games, including a 40-yard run against the Steelers last week. As a frame of reference, a Cowboys running back has only had a run of 20+ yards once the entire season, and it came from Rico Dowdle on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys will need to wrap up and not let the Bengal’s young back break off some big chunks. 3. BEWARE OF THE RUN STUFFS Over the last two games, the Cowboys rushing attack has shown signs of life. Dowdle has had two straight games with at least 80 yards on the ground, including a career-high 112 yards against the Giants on Thanksgiving. The arrangement of Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, and Brock Hoffman has provided the Cowboys with some extra beef along the interior offensive line. The Bengals’ defense will be a problem. They get after the ball carriers. They hit opposing rushers behind the line of scrimmage on 49.3% of designed runs between the tackles (data courtesy of NextGenStats). That’s the third-most in the league. Cowboys’ running backs are one of the weaker teams in yards before contact. Unless the Cowboys’ offensive line can pull off some better run blocking, we could see a lot of runs with little or no gain. 4. KEEP THE RUSH OFF OF RUSH How far the Cowboys go in sustaining a viable rushing attack will loom large because failure to do so will result in a huge problem. With Tyler Guyton dealing with an ankle injury, we could see veteran Chuma Edoga start in his place at left tackle. Edoga has been fine in the short time his number has been called, but he’ll draw a tough matchup this week. That’s because the Bengals’ defense features one of the league’s most underrated edge rushers in Trey Hendrickson. His 11.5 sacks lead the NFL this year and his 63 pressures are the second most in the league. He has more sacks than all of the other Bengals players combined. How the Cowboys handle Hendrickson and the Bengals pass rush could be the difference between a competitive game and absolute frustration. Quarterback Cooper Rush will have to come up with some plays in this one. 5. GOTTA TRY TO KEEP UP The Bengals have a top-five scoring offense. They have scored at least 27 points in each of the last four games. The Cowboys have a bottom-five points-allowed defense. You don’t need to be a statistician to tell you that there’s a good chance that Cincinnati is going to score some points in this one. While the Bengals do put up the points, their defense also surrenders a lot as well. They also have a bottom-five points-allowed defense. In fact, both Dallas and Cincinnati allow 28.3 points per game. The Bengals have been on the wrong end of some shootouts in recent weeks, but the Cowboy’s offense isn’t a unit that will light up anything. Dallas has found the end zone eight times over the last four games, but three of those have been courtesy of their defense or special teams. That’s 1.25 touchdowns from the offense during that four-game span. That’s not good. The Cowboys have been able to keep things low-scoring during their two-game winning streak, but that’s not likely to happen this time. If they are to have a chance, they better come equipped with an offensive game plan to take some

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images Your Sunday morning Cowboys news. Cowboys’ Parsons wants McCarthy, others back in 2025 – Todd Archer, ESPN The Cowboys best player jumps on the ‘bring back McCarthy’ train. While Micah Parsons is not ready to give up on 2024, the All-Pro pass rusher would like to see the Dallas Cowboys return all their key contributors for 2025, including coach Mike McCarthy. “I would like a fair shot with everyone back — players, coaches — because the injuries kind of struck of what this season could really be,” Parsons said in an interview with ESPN that will air before the Cowboys’ “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. “The injuries have been terrible. And, you know, it really sucks. Seeing Zack [Martin], D-Law [DeMarcus Lawrence] not having the year I know he planned to have. He had such a great start. It really sucks. “In terms of coaching, man, Coach Mike, me and his relationship has always been really good. He always took real good care of me. I just don’t know how the business side of it’s going to go, you know? [Owner and general manager Jerry Jones] has his own mindset about who he wants to coach. This is his team. I’m kind of just, like, a pawn in this business.” In an interview with Yahoo Sports last week, quarterback Dak Prescott said he wants McCarthy to return and he “wholeheartedly” believes in him. The head coach is in the final year of his deal. Jones recently said on 105.3 The Fan that it would “not be crazy” for McCarthy to earn an extension despite the Cowboys’ record. Mike McCarthy support present throughout Cowboys’ entire locker room – Josh Sanchez, Sports Illustrated The confidence in head coach Mike McCarthy is everywhere in the Cowboys organization. This week, Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Dak Prescott made waves when he was open about his support for head coach Mike McCarthy. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responded to Prescott’s comments about McCarthy, and now EVP Stephen Jones is sharing his thoughts on the situation and McCarthy’s future with the team. Jones spoke during an appearance on Shan & RJ on Audacy’s 105.3 The Fanand said he doesn’t think Prescott is the only player supporting McCarthy. In fact, McCarthy believes the “whole team” supports the head coach. “I think our whole team endorses Mike McCarthy. He’s got skins on the wall. He’s won a Super Bowl. He’s been in multiple championship games. He knows what it takes to win in this league,” Jones said. Jones was also asked whether wins and losses will be the deciding factor when it comes to McCarthy’s future. “No. I think we understand organizationally and we also have much, much respect for what you guys do, and obviously you have your opinions and influence our fans. And we know our fans have high expectations. But we also know what it takes to win in this league. We’ve won a lot of games over the years,” he said. “But we also understand that our fans are frustrated because we haven’t taken the ultimate step, which is win playoff games, get in championship games and Super Bowl games and win a Lombardi. We haven’t gotten that done, so it’s natural that the criticism comes our way.” Looking ahead to the coming coaching cycle – Jonathan Jones, CBSSports Despite the recent surge in pro-McCarthy sentiment, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to be among the teams searching for a new head coach at the end of the season. The Jets, Saints and Bears all have vacant jobs, and sources believe the Cowboys and Jaguars will have openings at the end of the year. The belief has been there will be between six to eight coaching jobs this cycle. But due to NFL rules, teams can’t perform even the quickest search for a coach until after the regular season is completed in January. Jourdan Lewis talks defensive improvements, Bengals ‘aggressive’ offense – DallasCowboys.com The Cowboys defense will have their hands full with a prolific Bengals offense. When the Cowboys and Bengals meet on Monday Night Football, a lot of attention will go to how Cincinnati’s high-powered offense will fare against a Dallas defense that has started to find its stride over the last few weeks. Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis acknowledged that despite the Bengals 4-8 record, they’re still a dangerous opponent. “Try to be aggressive, push the ball down field,” Lewis said of Cincinnati’s offensive style. “We got to be prepared to stop that because they got to a lot of playmakers that make plays and can burn us. We just got to go out there and execute, it doesn’t matter what their record is.” The Bengals are fifth in the NFL in points per game (27.9), first in passing yards per game (264.3), and ninth in total yards per game (356). Seven of their eight losses this season have come in one possession games and the Bengals average 27.75 points per game in losses, which is more than the Cowboys average per game this season (20.7). It’s safe to say it won’t be an easy challenge to overcome. “It’s tough,” Lewis said when asked how to stop a high-powered offense like Cincinnati’s. “You just got to give Joe [Burrow] a lot of different looks, a variety of different looks, and hopefully we can get some stops and just go out there and prepare our hearts and go out there and execute on those guys and challenge those receivers.” Let’s Assess the Cowboys’ Rookie Offensive Linemen – Rivers McCown, D-Magazine McCown takes a detailed look at both Guyton and Beebe and comes to this conclusion: You usually can’t write the book on a draft pick after one season. But after two seasons in the NFL, you have a good sense of what is happening. I don’t see what happened to Beebe or Guyton this year as disqualifying them from becoming solid, or good, or perhaps even joining Smith