We could grade on the curve for a team that played almost entirely without CeeDee Lamb, some of the time without Trevon Diggs and for at least one Chicago touchdown without nose tackle Kenny Clark.
Then again this was the 0-2 Bears Dallas was facing, not the 1985 Bears. Losing is one thing, and losing by 17 points at Soldier Field is another.
Offense
Completing 77.5 percent of one’s passes sounds like a heck of an afternoon, and 20 years ago, it was. But in the area of checkdown Charlies, Dak Prescott featured Jake Ferguson and couldn’t take his eyes off him even if the completions were for minimal gains. Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders had a nice day rushing the football (117 yards) but Williams getting stripped on the opening drive (great play by the Bears’ Tyrique Stevenson) was a huge minus for Dallas.
Cowboys
Grade: D
Related
Defense
Caleb Williams got his first “Zero” in 20 NFL starts. I’m talking about sacks. He was dumped 74 times in his first 19 games, and it’s not like Chicago fixed its offensive line this past week. But Williams had all afternoon to spread the ball around, to compile a 142.6 passer rating and even got to mix in a running game on a 9-minute, 54-second drive to salt the game away in the third quarter. No turnovers, no sacks, no splash plays of any kind really.
Grade: F
Special teams
Bryan Anger had a lousy net punting day if we want to split hairs, and Brandon Aubrey still hasn’t figured out how to tame his big leg and keep from sending too many kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks to the 35. Neither of these factored into the game in a major way.
Grade: C
Coaching
I’m not sure what those late first half timeouts while Chicago was driving were all about from the new head coach. It gave Dallas the ball with 18 seconds to play before halftime, and Dak got off one snap before the gun sounded. But that’s minuscule compared to the feeling this team was ill-prepared for just about everything Williams wanted to throw at them. Does Matt Eberflus remember his quarterback’s many weaknesses from a year ago? Dallas exploited none of them.
Grade: F
Overall
Just a failure of a day all around and a reminder that the Cowboys don’t have a win in regulation yet or much of a sign that they are likely to snap out of this next week against the Packers.
Grade: D-minus
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.