Blogging The Boys
For the second week in a row, the Dallas Cowboys defense allowed an opposing quarterback to have a career day, and this time it was much more than their own offense could overcome. The Cowboys fell 31-14 at the Chicago Bears, dropping their record to 1-2 and highlighting blatant defensive issues that stand to sink the 2025 season if not corrected swiftly.
By the end of Sunday’s games, the Eagles remained undefeated with a furious home comeback, the Commanders won without Jayden Daniels, and the Giants had yet another game kicking only field goals – meaning the only defense they’ve scored a touchdown against in 12 quarters is the Cowboys last week. Dallas lost ground in the NFC East by having their first true letdown game of the season, and also leave the Windy City with an injury concern for CeeDee Lamb. It feels like none of these things, either within the Cowboys’ control or not, will truly matter unless the defense is night and day better starting in week four.
In what will feel like an afterthought to the way Chicago rallied and controlled the second half of this game, Dallas actually did well to try and build some early momentum on the road in this one. They forced a three and out on the Bears’ first possession, and quickly got to work trying to establish their ground game. Javontae Williams had the ball stripped out of his hands on a 22-yard dash into Bears territory though, leading to the first of back-to back-explosive play touchdowns for Caleb Williams and the Bears offense.
The Cowboys only answered both touchdowns from the Bears with Brandon Aubrey field goals, but did rally before halftime with a George Pickens one handed touchdown grab and Jalen Tolbert two-point conversion to tie the game at 14. Playing without Lamb at this point, it was painfully obvious this was going to have to be a game where Dak Prescott pulled off more heroics to keep his team in it, but 14-14 is as close as the visiting team would ever get. The Bears continued to make big plays, dominated time of possession, and created turnovers on defense the rest of the way to score 17 unanswered points and get in the win column for the first time under first-year head coach Ben Johnson.
In the win for Johnson, the Bears looked like a team rallied around the identity of their coach, with just the right amount of desperation already pinned with two divisional losses to come out and control the game at home. The corresponding loss for another first year head coach in Brian Schottenheimer leaves the Cowboys searching aimlessly for such an identity, with few things to lean on at the moment. The run game looks improved from 2024, but having it look any worse would arguably be more impressive. Their ability to trust the run game when the defense is allowing so many yards and touchdowns is also extremely shaky, and their own...
