Cowboys Bears reaction

The Cowboys and their impatient fans waited for what must have seemed like a year for this game to come, after week one's let down. The result? In a disgraceful showing, the boys fell flat on their faces. Now, after what was considered a lighter portion of their tough schedule, they are sitting at 0-2 and face a daunting uphill battle to turn their season around. The Houston Texans are next weeks opponent and I see no reason for Cowboys fans to look forward to this game.

The Cowboys, after all their talk during the week about correcting the mistakes, only compounded them with more (many by veteran players!). Give the Bears their due though. Their defense was especially impressive and the turnover prone Jay Cutler not only posted a zero in that category, but relentlessly unleashed long bombs all over the Cowboys secondary, making them look foolish.

Where do we start when analyzing this game? The offense for the second straight week (7th if you count the preseason) looked nothing like the vaunted bunch that was supposed to score at will coming into the season. Romo had a terrible game. Don't let his 374 yards fool you, many of his throws were inaccurate, including the pass to Jason Witten that bounced off his hand and into the arms of Bears defensive back D.J. Moore. Moore made an uneducated comment, stating that Witten "heard footsteps" and was "scared" and that is why he dropped the ball. The same Jason Witten who has played a season with 2 cracked ribs? The Jason Witten who repeatedly hauls in balls in heavy traffic and takes on severe hits as if they were rain drops? No, Witten dropped that ball because it was thrown behind him and he could not react in time to get a good hand on it. Aside from Moore's bumptious comment, he does deserve credit for playing a good game.

Despite the return of the two starters on the offensive line, the fortunes of the Cowboys offense did not change. Once again, Jason Garrett decided that a balanced offense was not prudent, electing to pass 51 times and running only 19 times. Does he not understand that getting the running game started will help Romo and the passing attack? In the first quarter, Marion Barber repeatedly rushed for over seven yards and the Cowboys marched down the field. (Surprise, surprise, the drive stalled.) Still, why abandon the run for the rest of the game? Their run attack for the final 3 quarters was nothing less than a joke, and often was merely a feeble attempt to catch the Bears off guard in terms of defending Romo's arm. Good luck trying to catch the likes of Urlacher and Briggs off guard.

Kicker David Buehler has done nothing to inspire confidence in the hearts of the Cowboys. He missed another easy kick and poorly executed a surprise onsides kick. (This "gutsy" call had to have Cowboys fans pulling their hair out all over the country.) Buehler looks like he is just trying to muscle these field goals through the uprights and is throwing his technique into the wind. To make matters worse, I haven't seen any of those booming kickoffs that he's known for yet this year. In short, he has been useless thus far. Dare I say, bring back Nick Folk?

Then, on the defensive side of the ball, the boys were exposed and humiliated. In the first quarter I would have boldly predicted that they would tally up around 6 sacks on Cutler for the day. Ware and Anthony Spencer were flying around like mad men. It looked as if Cutler wanted nothing more than to head back to the Bears bus and hide under a seat. They were literally unblockable, and they must have been licking their chops when the Bears had to insert a backup tackle into the game. Instead, Wade Phillips stopped calling for effective blitzes and the Cowboys sat back as Cutler was allowed to settle down and pick apart a secondary that played uncharacteristically poor.  CB Mike Jenkins, usually the Cowboys best cover corner was beaten frequently. He also suffered a knee bruise but is expected to start next week. His replacement Michael Hamlin looked like he had never been taught how to cover anyone on Cutlers third TD toss.

It also appeared that Bears O-coordinator Mike Martz out smarted defensive guru Wade Phillips. Often the Cowboys were caught in coverage that left the middle of the field wide open. On the first Bears TD, tight end Greg Olson was barley touched as he scampered for 39 yards into the endzone. (Greg Olson does drop the best lines in the U-Miami's 7th floor crew, so its hard to hate on him for that.)

Heading into next week, it is an understatement that the Cowboys have a lot to work on. They must figure out how to run a respectable offense. Their talent is without question, but their execution is among the leagues worst. Roy Williams has finally shown that he can catch the ball; Now hold on to the damn thing! Dez Bryant looks like a superstar in the making and Miles Austin is a bonafide superstar. Romo must return to form and the offensive line must drastically cut down on penalties. I can't even begin to count how many drives have been stalled by holdings and false starts in the past 5 years. These guys are supposed to be experienced veterans!

Defensively we need to get some turnovers. This D has too much talent to not add to the turnover margin. Dial up the blitz more often! It scares me that we couldn't even get one interception off of the leagues leader in throwing them from last year. It is not panic time yet. Key word yet. Let us not forget that the New York Giants started off 0-2 a few years ago and ended up winning the Super Bowl. In 1993 the Cowboys also started off 0-2 and went on to win the big one. (Of course, the main reason for starting off 0-2 was Emmitt Smith's absence because of a holdout.) The NFC East is still wide open but their is a closing window of opportunity for the Cowboys. The time for the right words A.K.A cheap talk is over. Get out there and play ball!