{"id":657022,"date":"2026-01-05T22:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/657022\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T22:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:56:13","slug":"to-reach-brian-schottenheimers-2026-playoff-goal-cowboys-have-crucial-changes-to-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/657022\/","title":{"rendered":"To reach Brian Schottenheimer\u2019s 2026 playoff goal, Cowboys have crucial changes to make"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRISCO \u2014 In an end-of-season, late-morning team meeting on Monday, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer<\/a> told his group about gratitude and the future. <\/p>\n

Schottenheimer said his 7-9-1 team<\/a> will be a playoff team in 2026.<\/p>\n

Change must happen, with the personnel and the coaching staff, for that to occur.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

It could start with defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, who ran one of the worst defenses in franchise history in 2025.<\/a> The Cowboys finished Eberflus\u2019 first year on the job allowing an NFL-high 30.1 points per game and 6,409 yards, third-worst in the league. The Cowboys also gave up a franchise-record 511 points.<\/p>\n

And another change might occur with special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen, who didn\u2019t get the best of endorsements from the No. 2 man in the organization, co-owner Stephen Jones,<\/a> during a radio interview late last week on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM).<\/p>\n

Jones praised an offense that finished seventh in the NFL with a 27.7 scoring average. Jones said the offense had an identity, unlike the defense and special teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line, we need an identity on the defensive side of the ball,\u201d Jones said on The Fan. \u201cI don\u2019t think we established that this year. Whether it\u2019s coach Eberflus or whoever it is, we have to create an identity. I think everybody would say that Coach Schottenheimer has a ton of energy, he\u2019s very authentic and has an identity. We\u2019ve got to play to that in all three phases. I think we did in one phase this year. I don\u2019t know that we established that in the other two phases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the team meeting, players underwent exit interviews with Schottenheimer and members of the coaching staff and front office. Schottenheimer said he\u2019ll meet with his coaches on Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys work their asses off all year and they got great insight and great input for us,\u201d Schottenheimer said after losing to the Giants in the regular-season finale on Sunday. \u201cThere is nothing out of bounds. They can say, \u2018Hey you were the worst head coach I\u2019ve ever seen in my life, I\u2019ve ever been around.\u2019 And that\u2019s not going to hurt my feelings, it\u2019s not. I want to know. I\u2019m going to ask why, if they feel that way, so I can fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no timeline for potential coaching changes with the Cowboys staff. <\/p>\n

With several NFL teams firing head coaches on what\u2019s called Black Monday, it would seem beneficial to get started soon.<\/p>\n

Eberflus\u2019 status is at the top of the list and Schottenheimer was asked about the case to keep the defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe case is going to be the case that\u2019s made when we look at all the stats,\u201d he said. \u201cWe talk through the issues, we get through the exit interviews with the players and again I\u2019ve said this many, many times, Flus is a really good defensive coach but we\u2019re going to go through the process and that\u2019s with everybody starting with myself. And [offensive coordinator] Klayton [Adams] and Nick and Flus and the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland <\/a>said the media was \u201cjust a little bit [too hard on Eberflus].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a lot of moving parts this year with what he got,\u201d Bland said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard when you have a plan and have to adjust so much. It\u2019s a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The Cowboys have missed the postseason the last two years, the first time that\u2019s happened since the 2019-2020 campaigns.<\/p>\n

For a longer postseason drought, there was a four-year stretch from 2010-2013. <\/p>\n

Based on the team meetings and the expectations of team owner Jerry Jones<\/a>, missing the postseason in 2026 isn\u2019t acceptable.<\/p>\n

Players\u2019 futures get determined this spring, particularly with free agents such as wideout George Pickens, running back Javonte Williams and pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Monday was about closing the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cGratitude is a huge part of what we spoke about in our exit meetings as a team,\u201d guard\/tackle Tyler Smith said. \u201cWe spoke about gratitude for the year and we did a lot of great things, obviously, but it wasn\u2019t great enough to get to where we wanted to be. Just continue to improve upon that this offseason and it\u2019s all about winning, that\u2019s what he told us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO \u2014 In an end-of-season, late-morning team meeting on Monday, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer told his group about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[1101,2886,230,229,257,2461,7,2883,6,9,2884],"class_list":{"0":"post-657022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-brian-schottenheimer","10":"tag-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-dallascowboys","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-jerry-jones","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stephen-jones"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115844965014800769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}