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Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer watches as players warm up during practice at the Star in Frisco, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
FRISCO\u00a0\u2014 The honeymoon period between Cowboys<\/a> fans and head coach Brian Schottenheimer <\/a>ended, fittingly, when the team left a tropical destination.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Cowboys had their chances to beat the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Specifically, they had an 81% chance to win \u2014 according to NFL Pro \u2014 when a defensive pass interference call gave the Cowboys a first down at the 2-yard line with 28 seconds left and one timeout remaining. They needed a field goal to tie and a touchdown to take the lead \u2014 and likely win.<\/p>\n Instead of success, a litany of mistakes ensued. Instead of the Cowboys scoring a game-winning touchdown, they settled for a field goal. Instead of going to overtime, they gifted the Ravens a chance to win, much to their surprise and appreciation.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The seven-second, two-play drive by Baltimore marked the quickest game-winning drive after a kickoff in NFL history.\u00a0<\/p>\n Being on the ugly side of history also sparked a closer, more cynical look at Schottenheimer\u2019s coaching tenure thus far. The first-time head coach is now 8-11-1. The Cowboys are now 1-2 before they head to Houston on Sunday. For a team that talked openly and confidently about playing in the Super Bowl this season, they\u2019re now discussing a tough game against a winless Texans team.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s not where the Cowboys, nor their fans, hoped to be at this juncture. Which is why fans and others, including owner Jerry Jones, turned their attention to the head coach after the loss in Brazil.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll take responsibility for this. I\u2019m a grown man. I can handle it,\u201d Schottenheimer said this week. \u201cDo I deserve the criticism? Absolutely. I deserve the criticism. I take the criticism. You know what it\u2019s going to do? It\u2019s going to fire me up. It ain\u2019t going to happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n With the honeymoon over, it would be in Schottenheimer\u2019s best interest to ensure that a loss like Sunday\u2019s didn\u2019t happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The recovery process started with accountability<\/a>. Schottenheimer not only took the blame publicly for Sunday\u2019s meltdown in Rio de Janeiro, but privately, too. He took the blame in front of the team this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not what every coach would do, according to offensive coordinator Klayton Adams.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is truly someone who what you see, is what you get,\u201d Adams said. \u201cHe knows that there\u2019s going to be mistakes. Everybody\u2019s going to make them, but he\u2019s pretty amazing just in the amount of accountability that he has toward the decisions that he makes. It\u2019s one of the reasons I think he\u2019s built for this.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably a lot of people in his situation that would try and make excuses, or try to paint the picture different than what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n To be fair, no amount of paint could\u2019ve changed that picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Schottenheimer said this week that he didn\u2019t adhere to a lesson his father, former longtime NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer<\/a>, once taught him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy dad had a rule: one play at a time,\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cHe talked a lot about, because it happened to him, he made a decision on a play. It didn\u2019t go good. He was pissed off about it and it affected another decision. I think that\u2019s kind of what happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n It was evident. Perhaps most on the team\u2019s final offensive play of the game. Quarterback Dak Prescott surprised many when he snapped the ball on third down and quickly threw the ball into the stands. It was shocking for its immediacy. It looked as if Prescott had been programmed to do it. In a way, he was.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n