CHICAGO — Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer saw a kindred spirit in Bears head coach Ben Johnson. He understands the challenges for a first-time head coach in their first year.
Only three weeks in, both teams are trying to build an identity.
“We’re both trying to find ourselves,” Schottenheimer said on 105.3 KRLD-FM “The Fan” before the game, “but the biggest thing is: find a way to win.”
Instead of finding victory, the Cowboys found defeat, falling 31-14 to the Bears. The Cowboys are now 1-2 through three games for the second straight season.
Cowboys
The Cowboys lost CeeDee Lamb to an ankle injury early. They also struggled to stop Caleb Williams, who passed for 298 yards and four touchdowns. It’s the second week in a row that an opposing quarterback has had a lot of success against the Cowboys’ defense.
The Cowboys will not only have to find themselves after the loss to the Bears, they’ll have to find answers to some key problems.
Here are five takeaways from the loss:
Same old pace
Schottenheimer was adamant that a fast start would be key against the Bears. He thought the pace was too slow in the first two games.
The Cowboys, after what Schottenheimer deemed a successful practice week, lived up to Schottenheimer’s hopes initially. They forced a three-and-out to start the game and then broke a long Javonte Williams run.
The fast start was quelled quickly, however. On that run, Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson chased Williams from behind and ripped the ball away. Williams, it appeared, never saw him.
The Bears quickly responded with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Rome Odunze. Momentum was seized and never totally surrendered.
Another blow
It took a little time, but the Cowboys started to see the benefit of having a second receiver such as George Pickens in their offense last week against the Giants. He played a crucial role in the win, including a fourth-quarter touchdown catch. The Cowboys believed having Pickens and Lamb would be a problem for opposing defenses.
“He’s a mismatch for damn-near every [defensive back] in this league,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said of Pickens last week. “So they’re going to have to double him, and that’s your trouble right there. You want to double him, or you want to double CeeDee?”
But what would happen if Lamb wasn’t in the picture? We found out Sunday against the Bears.
Lamb injured his ankle on a carry with just over eight minutes left in the first quarter. He went into the injury tent to presumably get his ankle taped. He returned for one play before he limped off. He didn’t return after that.
That meant the Cowboys would need Pickens to step up.
Pickens did have a touchdown catch, but overall the Bears were able to contain the Cowboys’ passing attack. Prescott had been pushing the ball in tight windows the first two weeks. Against the Bears he often had to settle for underneath throws. Tight end Jake Ferguson was the leading receiver with 13 catches for 82 yards.
Prescott tried to go to Pickens in the second half, but the ball went off his hands and was intercepted by Tremaine Edmunds.
Eberflus returns
One of the things that drew Schottenheimer to Matt Eberflus, Schottenheimer said this week, was their shared view on philosophy. Schottenheimer wanted to be multiple on offense, he said. Eberflus expressed the same aspirations for the defense.
There wasn’t a ton of blatant multiplicity in the first two weeks. The Cowboys ran zone coverage 100% of the time in Week 1 and over 96% in Week 2, according to NextGen Stats. In addition, the Cowboys showed reluctance in their first two weeks to blitz, opting instead for four pass rushers only.
To Eberflus’ credit, there were some changes initially. They blitzed on two of their first three plays. They ran man coverage on the second drive of the game.
Unfortunately for Eberflus and the Cowboys, it didn’t make much difference. The Odunze touchdown in the first half happened on man coverage when corner Trevon Diggs slipped and fell on a route. On the next drive, the Bears ran a slow-developing flea flicker that resulted in a wide-open touchdown for Luther Burden III.
Ultimately, the Cowboys allowed 385 yards and 31 points.
No rush
The Cowboys elected not to rush the debut of Jadeveon Clowney. Maybe they should have to, fittingly, help their pass rush.
The Cowboys generated little pass rush outside of a blitz on the opening drive. Williams made them pay for it, too.
Schottenheimer told “The Fan” before the game that he thought they would have some chances for pass-rushing success.
“I like some of the matchups we have up front,” he said. “I think there are some areas where we can take advantage of things.”
Against the Bears, they couldn’t.
The Cowboys now have three sacks through the first three weeks after recording none against the Bears.
They need someone to step up with Micah Parsons gone. Maybe it’ll be Clowney, who has 15 combined sacks the last two seasons. Maybe we’ll find out next Sunday when Parsons and the Packers come to town.
The dagger
The Bears showed early that they could score quickly. To essentially end Sunday’s game, they also showed they could move the ball methodically and slowly, too.
The Bears started the second half with a 19-play drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock. They ran the ball 11 straight times, including designed runs with wide receiver Burden and quarterback Williams. The Bears had 40 yards rushing over that span, but still found a way to move the ball downfield. The Bears capped the drive with a wide-open touchdown pass from Williams to D.J. Moore in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 4.
The Bears wanted to put a dagger in the Cowboys. They did it slowly.
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