DISASTER: Dallas Cowboys CRUSHED by Chicago Bears | Sinking Ship?

DISASTER: Dallas Cowboys CRUSHED by Chicago Bears | Sinking Ship?

The Dallas Cowboys were downright awful in week three. How concerned should you be about the rest of the season? We will get to that next. You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to the Lock On Cowboys podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We’d like to thank you for making us your first listen of the day. This episode is brought to you by Monstera. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week’s Moving the Game Forward. Mazda move and be moved. Welcome back. I am your host Marcus Moer. He is Landon Mcool. And on today’s show, we’re discussing the Cowboys blowout loss to the Chicago Bears in week three. Landon, we’re going to talk about the defense and why they’re struggling so much and why the offense stalled out in the second half. But before we even get to any of that stuff, I thought week three was a very eyeopening game for the Cowboys. Not just because they lost. Like, hey, listen, people teams lose all the time in the NFL, but the way they lost, this feels like kind of a tipping point in the season, and it did not go in the Cowboys direction. Yeah, absolutely not. It’s, you know, it’s funny because earlier in the week, you and I had a conversation about uh potential trades that the Cowboys may make and and that sort of thing. and you and I kind of universally talked about like, hey, they they they need to get through these two games to kind of find out what where the trajectory of this this season is, right? And and and and and and we both agreed that we felt like, you know, they needed to win this Bears game because they probably weren’t going to win the Packers game uh if they were going to be kind of the type team that you would want to be in the trade market to try to improve to give to this year. I think as the week went on, I I started to kind of internalize that as, hey, like this really is sort of a a diverging, you know, roads sort of game where the Cowboys could be on two different paths. And as the game started and continued to go on, uh, it really did feel like, man, they had chosen a path and it’s not exactly a happy path for this season. Um, you know, we had talked about the the disparity between the offense and the defense, uh, and their performance. I mean, I think this game kind of, especially early in the game, really showed that disparity. Uh, and then when when when when CD went out, it really felt like a season kind of crushing blow to the to the team, even if he isn’t out for, you know, more than a couple weeks. We’ll see how that all turns out. Yeah. And we we’ll get to the offense in a little bit. And listen, when the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons, we knew that the defense was going to be bad. We had no illusions about what they were going to be. I know Jerry Jones maybe thought they were going to be better, but when you traded Micah Parsons, it took away all of your margin of error, right? You’re going to have to play unbelievably sound uh team football on defense just to stay in some of these games. And now when you’ve got guys missing tackles and blowing assignments and overreaching on, you know, press coverage, that’s how blowouts like this happen against a Bears offense that has been very up and down through the first two weeks of the season. Now they put on a show. Like unfortunately, it feels like there’s going to be more of these games as the season goes on. It’s not going to be every week, but you’re going to be playing some pretty good offenses that going to be that are going to be able to take advantage of the lack of talent and the lack of discipline here. Yeah. And and I don’t know that, you know, we’re breaking any news with the idea that the the Cowboys offense is the stronger of the two units or that the Cowboys defense is not good. But I think what what we found out today is I mean the the Cowboys defense is is potentially historically bad, right? Like it’s it’s really really bad to the point where uh yeah, I mean I I think you know this is a graph that I formed up on True thanks to True Media and it’s got six for those of you that are listening. uh it’s got success rate on the lefthand side and and then defensive success rate. And if you look at the Cowboys, they’re all the way up in the top left by the by themselves, right? It they’re in a situation where their their offensive success rate is puts them at number four, I think, is what I’m just looking at this graph. The probably the fourth best offense in all of football on a success rate basis. but their defensive success rate is so poor uh that it’s you know it’s put them in this kind of weird situation where where you know next to the Miami Dolphins which is a team that that is uh is is potentially going to be firing their coach soon uh because I mean if or you know if if they hadn’t probably saved their job by not getting blown out by the Bills uh simply just not being blown out by the Bills last week. So yeah, I mean it’s not a good place to be and and it and it’s I think the thing that was so eyeopening to me Marcus is that I was thinking about it like even if Micah Parsons was on the team like the way that this is going right now like Micah wouldn’t have been able to fix what was what we’re seeing on the back end like I mean it certainly would have helped. Absolutely. There’s no doubt about that. But I I I think that the idea that even with Micah Parsons that we would have been like good enough to be contending I think is I’m starting to not even believe that that necessarily was true just because of all the factors on defense. Yeah. I mean it seems like both of your safeties got really old in one off seasonason. They were already kind of trending in the wrong direction with Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson. Your linebackers have been very disappointing relative to what we saw, you know, maybe in the preseason or what we were hoping. Kyrie Elim has just been a disaster. you were hoping that he would be better based on some of the training camp reports. Like I mean I’m already starting again I know this is a bad attitude to have thinking like to 2026 and man you start circling how many positions of need they’re going to have on defense and it’s it’s kind of an overwhelming amount and again I think Micah covers up a lot of those faults and those areas of need but you’re seeing like this you’re seeing why this defense at times last year even with a healthy Micah really struggle. Well, it’s holistic, you know? I mean, it’s coaching, too, right? Like, let’s look at those other two graphs that we got here if we could real quick. I I made another one that basically is the is EPA, defensive EPA per snap. And look there again, we’re we’re there with the Miami Dolphins. There’s the Dallas Cowboys. This is the bottom of the list. The top equals the 32nd, 31st, and 30th teams being the Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Giants. Look at the gap between the Cowboys and the Giants on EPA per play. like they’re just that that’s just a terrible metric for how bad your defense is doing uh on a on a snap per snap basis. And then Marcus, show me the last one if you could. And it and it’s all based on total pass EPA. This is actually defensive total pass EPA. And again, for those who are looking at home, the Dallas Cowboys are at the very top of this list, which is not the top of the of a list that you want to be on, right? And and it’s not even just that they’re bad. Look at the gap between the Cowboys and the Dolphins. And then even the Dolphins for the Jets, like the Cowboys are far and away by orders of magnitude. They’re negative -16 total EPA when there’s the third place team, the Jets, is negative1. You know what I’m saying? Like that’s almost 50% more than what than what the Jets have uh on their on their total defensive EPA just in past plays. You know, the Cowboys are a decent probably like middle of the pack run defense team, but they are historically bad at at at stopping the pass through three games. And it’s not only sinking the defense, it’s you know, sinking the Cowboys entire season. And you know, we we joke about all the time how you you know, stopping the run isn’t the most important thing in the NFL. The irony is not lost to me that the Cowboys finally can run the ball and they can stop the run and they have like the worst defense in the league right now. It just shows you like we are in a passing league where if you can pass the ball and you can stop the pass, you’re likely going to have a lot of success. We’ll talk about why the Cowboys couldn’t pass uh on Sunday. We’ll get to that in a little bit. But just to kind of sum up our thoughts on this team through three weeks, I don’t want to be overreactionary or anything here, but like based on their schedule, based on what it’s going to look like the next couple weeks and what they have down the road, it’s hard to think that this is a playoff team. Like Jerry Jones said, unless unless things magically turn around or a couple players get healthy on defense and really play at an allp pro level, just don’t see it right now. You’ve got some things that are going to change, but it’s hard to believe that it’s going to change enough to like fix what we’ve seen, right? Like it’s just it feels a little too widespread. Pass defense is is a multi-art, you know, multifacet element, right? It’s pass rush, pass coverage, and and it feels like multiple components in each section are broken. And then like they could fix some of it, but it doesn’t feel like something that you fix on the fly while facing a very difficult schedule. And and if you’re gonna if you’re gonna make the playoffs while facing one of the most difficult schedules in the NFL, you got to steal some of these games. The Bears was one that you like, you know, they were favored. They were favored and so you had to win. And the fact that they, you know, got absolutely blown out, uh it just doesn’t it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season. All right, let’s talk more about that defense which was shredded by Caleb Williams. We’ll talk about the lack of pass rush next. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks, the daily fantasy app where making the right call can actually pay off. You and I make decisions every day. But on prize picks, being right means cashing in. And with Football Back, prize picks is the simplest and easiest way to get in on the action. Just pick more or less on two to six player projections and you can turn your takes into real prizes all in less than 60 seconds. I’ve been playing on prize picks for years and it’s unbelievably how much fun unbelievable how much fun it is. It’s easy to stay locked into the NFL season. It’s quick. It’s easily easy and you can create your lineup in less than three minutes. I love checking in on the projections on like Josh Allen. How many yards is he going to throw for in a big game? So download the Prize Fix app today and use promo code lot. NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That is promo code lot. NFL for $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It’s good to be right. Welcome back to the Loton Cowboys podcast. We’d like to thank you for making us your first listen of the day. Landon, let’s talk about this Cowboys defense some more because no I know they couldn’t create pressure quick. They couldn’t create pressure, you know, as plays went on. The coverage was worse. It Are you more concerned about the coverage or the pass rush right now? I I mean I I it’s clearly both. So you have to fix both of them. I think with with I I think I’m more concerned about the coverage because I feel like with the pass rush, I still have some hope that some of these young players like Ezaraku will continue to grow. I thought he did some things at least today. Um obviously not enough, but but I mean, you know, you saw some stuff from him. I still like Neland. Um you know, Williams, man, it’s just like it’s it’s so frustrating with him right now. Like I I just feel like it’s time to kind of distribute those snaps and clearly they did that naturally just because they kept him off the field after his mess up. Remember there was talks like on Labor Day weekend about the Cowboys maybe giving him an extension before the year started. Yeah. I mean, thank goodness they didn’t, right? Um Yeah. And you know, we’ll see what what Clowney has, but I mean, I don’t know how much more he’s going to add here. Uh but I think with the pass with the with the coverage thing, it’s like you’re hoping that Diggs gets a little bit healthier. uh you know, as the season goes on. Um I I actually think that, you know, what we’ve seen from Elim has been fine. I think it’s it’s it’s more the safeties that that’s what’s probably more frustrating is that it’s just that you see them getting, you know, toasted deep over and over again and just constantly allowing the the guys to get, you know, run free through the defense and then and then just being caught flatfooted as as guys are running past them, which is just ridiculous. And and it’s not even just Wilson. I saw a lot of people blaming Wilson on being single high. I mean, Hooker was doing it, too. Like, you know, on that flea flicker touchdown, like, you know, it was it was Hooker that was back there that just kind of let that guy drift past him because he was coming down the hill for the run. So, yeah. I mean, I think that I think for the pass coverage situation, it’s just several different components that you feel like you’re going to need to change out. You hope that Rell is going to come in, but this is a rookie coming in off an ACL injury. So, I don’t know that you’re getting a lot of back end of the season hope out of, you know, Rell or Butler coming in. It’s just it’s it’s it’s there’s not a lot of options to kind of improve that spot, you know, throughout the season. Whereas with the defensive end, you hope that the young guys just grow up a little bit. I I want to talk about the third quarter of this game because it it was a 24-4 uh game going into the third quarter. The Cowboys got the ball uh to start the that the the quarter. Seven plays, 18 yards punt. And then Chicago had a 19play 76-yard drive that took off 10 minutes of the clock. And that was the only drive that the Cowboys had in the the third quarter. That was it. Like I think that’s what was it was so demoralizing. Like I think they the field was 400 yards long. Chicago could have walked the ball down there. I mean, they they got to fourth down a couple times, but it just felt like there was hardly any resistance on those drives. Well, I think the thing that was the most I mean, that was by far the most one of the most frustrating drives I I’ve just had to sit through and witness in such a long I mean, probably last year. I guess we had to deal with some of those last year, but just to have this one be the first kind of one of where it was truly demoralizing, timeconsuming drive in the first half, right? like Dak had 115 yards passing, right? And and and we saw that Caleb Williams had 110 yards passing in just his t touchdown passes. So my my point being is that they were killing us through the air with long deep passes, right? These touchdown passes and then they go on this kind of 19 yard long play game grinding drive to basically kill the game and and kind of break the backs of the Cowboys. Uh and it and it it just it killed all all the clock. It killed all opportunity and and it it was just one of those things where you had just been spent the whole game being killed one way. Just to be ground down the other way just made it even more frustrating. It just made it like you know just really again it it felt like an inflection point on the season at this point. Again I know that we are three games into the season and we shouldn’t overreact but would you consider moving on from the defensive coordinator? Has it been that bad for Matt Ibrafluence or do you want to give him some time to figure this thing out? Uh, you know, look, I I I did look, we talked about the context here that I flu is a very certain has a very certain way of playing. Uh, uh, and and that that kind of got blown to hell when when when when Parsons got traded, right? But at the same time, man, you have to make adjustments and and I just don’t feel like there were a ton of adjustments. He’s playing his Bears, his former team. I thought that was the other thing about this game. I just felt like it was we were gonna see, okay, you know, revenge game. We’ll see this guy kind of empty out what he’s got here. And it just felt like more of the same. It felt like the only change up that he’s made since the last two weeks, and I haven’t seen the numbers yet, is but it looked like there was a like a slight, you know, maybe five or six more snaps of man coverage, right? And but it didn’t feel like they were blitzing in any any higher rate or anything like that, but it does feel like when you saw them blitz, they were having success. So, I yeah, I mean I I I think at this point, like if you’re serious about trying to save the season, like I would take it take the temperature of the locker room and see what what you’ve got and figure out if if if they feel like changing defensive coordinators will help because I mean the other part of the problem is that you’re you mid you’re three weeks into the season. It’s not like you’re going to change the playbook. It’s just going to be the same menu probably called by a different person. And that’s why like they’re not going to fire the defensive coordinator and suddenly become a top five ranked defense. Like you might get marginally better for a couple weeks because guys are, you know, more on their toes because of the firing, but like you’re right, they’re going to be calling the same defense. They’ve got a very young defensive staff. So I don’t even Is there anybody even on the staff that has experience calling plays? I don’t know. I I I mean I white head maybe like I don’t know why I mean uh I mean Carter I don’t know like I I don’t know. Probably not. I mean think of that’s the part of about having such a young def def uh young coaching staff, right? Is that they’re not necessarily all experienced in all aspects of of coaching. So the Cowboys give up 31 points in this game. Uh Chicago had 298 passing yards, 87 rushing yards. Uh they averaged 6.8 8 yards per play in this game. And honestly, it was even worse than that because the fourth quarter was such a grind and Chicago was just trying to run out some of the clock. At halftime, Caleb Williams is averaging 14.9 yards per attempt. And I’m wondering now like what are some of these better the better offenses that they’re going to play later in the year when it’s like the Lions or the Packers next week and the Chargers coming up? Like is this going to get way worse before it gets better? I like at what point do they you re reach like you know optimal like maximum amount of of suffering right like the Cowboys are giving up almost a quarter of a point per play at this point on in expected points like it’s it’s pretty bad you know so I think I think you could just play prevent defense all game and then see if you could try it I mean it’s crazy the number of just huge plays that they’re giving up I think to me that’s that’s what’s just shocking to see them just continually give big play after big play after big play. And now I think you’re going to see teams just hunt the big play in Dallas and maybe that’ll work out in their favor. Maybe teams will be a little too aggressive, but based on what we’ve seen through three games, I kind of doubt it. Uh let’s talk about the Cowboys offense in this one because we thought this was going to be a shootout in a game that both teams were going to score 30 plus points. The Cowboys did not score in the second half. In fact, they only scored one touchdown. What went wrong for the offense outside of the CD Lamb injury? We will get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Mazda’s moving the game forward for those who believe it’s not just about playing the game. It’s about redefining it. These are the moments that do more than just put points on the board. They move crowds, they move culture, and they keep the game moving forward. And this week’s moment that moved the game forward, it’s just Javvante Williams. I know he fumbled in the first drive of the game, but he runs so hard. He gives the Cowboys an attitude on offense, and frankly, I thought he was their best offensive player in week three. I have no doubt that he’s going to be successful as the season goes on. And I think he’s going to keep this offense uh being one of the best in the league. So, Javvante Williams is the player that is keeping the Cowboys moving forward. And when you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there’s more to every highlight, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda, move and be moved. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure that you are ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however you like to bet. Whether that’s player props, building a same game parlay, or even jumping in on the live action as the game is already going on, it makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your favorite team play or maybe just checking in on your fantasy lineups, it’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s the best way to add a little bit more energy and a little bit more juice to your Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That is fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. Welcome back to the Lotone Cowboys podcast. We’d like to thank you for making us your first listen of the day. For your second listen, check out the Lot Done NFL podcast. Two podcasts every single day. One in the morning with Tyler Roland, one in the afternoon with Tony Wiggins. Available wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let’s talk about the Cowboys offense because if I told you going into this game that the Cowboys were only going to score 14 points against this banged up Chicago defense, you would have said no way. But Landon, that was the case. Three points in the first quarter, 11 in the second quarter, shut out in the second half. What happened? They got put in a terrible game script first of all. And and part of it’s their own fault, right? Like they they they go out and and actually perform quite well early on. In fact, if you looked on a personnap base, just looking at the snaps, they they they looked really good. They they had two plays on their first drive and gave 30 yards on those two run plays. Uh, of course, they fumbled like had the ball just snatched out of Williams pocket uh uh on that last on that last run. And so basically what it meant is that between the the the two drives that the that the Bears uh uh you know had early on, one the punt and then the the touchdown um the Cowboys basically only ran two plays for the first five minutes of the entire game. And um and then by the time they came back on they, you know, they they were down uh a touchdown and and so they they they started to continue to run the ball well and and they did run the ball well and and and uh it felt like you were getting the classic kind of Dennis Allen defense. I can’t wait to go back and watch the tape to see what they were doing with CD Lamb early, but I I I guarantee you it was again the the kind of double brackets that that they were that you saw a lot last year because you saw a lot of Ferguson getting targets. you saw a lot of the run game and and the run game was incredibly successful. Uh the I through the first half they had 13 carries for 85 yards. I’m sorry, Williams had 13 carries for 85 yards. So six and a half yards per carry which was extremely successful. And then it felt like as the game got on and the defense kind of wore down, you know, eroded, fell apart, and disintegrated, uh, the Cowboys got put into kind of a negative game script and and started having to throw the ball more and and once once the Bears kind of knew the Cowboys were throwing the ball, it’s it the Cowboys had some success, uh, but then CD Lamb got injured and that kind of threw things even further out of loop. Uh and and they on top of that they just didn’t necessarily perform well because they were being put into a situation where Dak was having to throw the ball 40 times and I just don’t know this this uh offense overall is ready to to do that especially without CD Lamb. It’s unbelievable how similar this game was to last year when the Cowboys played Dennis Allen in week two when he was the head coach of the Saints. Uh the Cowboys scored 13 points in the second quarter uh and then three points in the second half. And one of the things that Dennis Allen does is he likes to load up a lot of guys in the line of scrimmage and then he’s going to drop some and sometimes he’ll blitz them all right. And one of the things that was irritating to at least me and I could be wrong in this one is it seemed like whenever Dak saw that pressure his first read was just to throw the ball underneath to Ferguson. And I get it like he’s trying to get rid of the ball out of his hands and let Ferguson make plays after the catch. The problem is Ferguson really I don’t think ever broke a tackle in this game. And they love it if you’re going to throw the ball short of the sticks. And that was that’s my biggest issue with this offense right now. It feels like it has to be a bunch of six and seven yard gains. And there’s really no big plays. We got a couple big plays late in the game to Cavante Turpin, but Dak for whatever reason just isn’t throwing the ball down the field. And it’s really hard to play offense that way when you’re not attacking 25, 30 yards down the field. Well, there’s a reason that it looked like it did last year is because the configuration’s the same, right? Like without that second outside wide receiver, you can’t attack down the field if they’re bracketing your your outside threat, right? Unless you when they did and when the only times they did have success was when they were hitting Turpin, right? They hit Turpin on the on the on the nine route, right? and then they hit them on the deep over later much later in the game because you know they’re they’re taking away all the deep stuff on the outside and they’re allowing you to throw it inside to to they’re basically funneling the ball inside to Ferguson on short passes and rallying to tackle and the Cowboys much like last year once CD Lamb went out they didn’t have that extra target that could exploit all the uh uh extra attention being you know given to to the primary wide receiver and to the tight in that was funneling. They needed that extra guy that could get down the field and it was only Turpin a couple times. What you needed was you needed the attention going to CD, the the attention going to to Ferguson and then Cindy Pickkins down, but unfortunately because CD got lamb, CD got hurt. I almost said lammed. Uh he he Pickins got that attention. Ferguson still continued to get get fed but in a situation where he wasn’t breaking tackles and it just became untenable. Just a really ugly loss all the way around. The offense was sloppy. The defense was worse. And up next, Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers in week four. We will be back all week to break down this loss. We’ll get you ready for that Sunday Night Football game. Make sure you follow the channel on YouTube. Download the podcast wherever you get your podcast. We are free and available on all platforms. And we will see you right back here on Tuesday.

COWBOYS DEFENSE COLLAPSES: Is a historically bad season on the horizon?

Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool break down the Dallas Cowboys’ shocking defensive meltdown against the Chicago Bears. The hosts analyze alarming statistics, highlighting how trading Micah Parsons has left gaping holes in the Cowboys’ defense.

Key topics include the Bears’ demoralizing 19-play drive, potential coaching changes, and offensive struggles despite CeeDee Lamb’s efforts. The discussion covers Matt Eberflus’s impact, comparisons to last year’s Saints game, and how these issues might affect Dallas’s playoff hopes.

Will the Cowboys make drastic changes to save their season? Tune in for expert analysis and insider perspectives on Dallas’s path forward.

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