Blogging The Boys
For two of the most recognizable brands in the NFL, it may come as a surprise that Sunday’s meeting between the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears at Solider Field will be just the 29th meeting in this series’ history. The Cowboys have the edge with 16 wins to 12 losses, making their first visit to the Windy City since a December 2019 loss. Amazingly, when it comes to meetings between these teams in Chicago, the Cowboys and Bears have alternated wins and losses for nine games in a row. The last Cowboys win at the Bears came in 2014 with a 41-28 victory, and the most recent overall meeting between these sides was also a 49-29 Cowboys win from AT&T Stadium in 2022.
The Cowboys are coming into Sunday’s week three matchup off their first 40-point performance of the season and first since week 13 of 2023 vs. the Seahawks. It took overtime for the Cowboys to hit this mark against the Giants, but now going up against a Bears defense that allowed 52 points last week at the Lions, the hope is the Cowboys offense can start finding a consistent stride to put pressure on the Bears.
The Cowboys offense coming into this game feels like the much more established unit compared to their defense, which has plenty of reasons to be the center of attention in this matchup. Dallas got new wide receiver George Pickens his first touchdown with the team against the Giants, continued to target CeeDee Lamb, and leaned on Javontae Williams out of the backfield. The players they can trust on this side of the ball have been established quickly this season, with a clear pecking order starting at the top with QB Dak Prescott. Dallas relying on Prescott to be – at times – the best overall player on the field for either team in order to compete is a familiar place to be, but when it comes to this year under a new coaching staff, probably not where they’d ideally like to be.
Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is one of the most experienced coaches on Brian Schottenheimer’s staff, with previous experience in Dallas, and most recently was head coach of this week’s opponent the Bears. These factors have not led to Eberflus’ defense being able to break the streak of Dallas starting off seasons poorly on this side of the ball, be it under Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, or Flus.
There were some positive moments for the Cowboys defense in week one against the Eagles, but that was against an offense being called by a first-time coordinator, still in a losing effort, while playing entirely zone coverage. This zone trend continued against the Giants, and Russell Wilson had a career day throwing over the top of it.
Will the extra motivation for Eberflus to fix these defensive busts against his old team be a bigger factor than the motivation of Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson to get things going in the right direction...
