FanPost

Prognosticating the Dallas Cowboys vs Chicago Bears game

The more I read into it, and the more I watch Dallas' last 2 games, the more I cringe with anyone picking the Cowboys to score more than 21 points.

Here's why.

If the Cowboys play like they have, which is to say, continue their anemic offense, and stellar defense, they can't win the game. Against good defenses, the Cowboys have racked up an average of 12 points. Can the Bears score 12 points against the Cowboys defense? If they keep the ball, don't turn it over, and run the ball. Certainly.

There's nothing in the Cowboys offense that screams to me... "We're going to have a breakout game this week on offense". Not at home, not against the strong Chicago defense, not with a still ailing and ineffective Jason Witten, not with that O-Line which may be worse than Chicago's.

It doesn't add up as I read all the prognostications of the Writers. They have the Cowboys scoring pretty big, over 20 points. All I can say is: Where's the evidence that this is going to happen? The Cowboys put up 24 against a New York Giants defense that didn't HAVE cornerbacks, and neither of their two big guys had strong games that game, both Miles Austin and Dez Bryant had okay games, but nothing you'd expect over guys who were on their third, fourth, and fifth cornerback. DeMarco Murray had that explosive game 1, but averaged around 70 total yards the next 2 games against better defenses. If you're sitting there, thinking it's going to be 24-17 Cowboys, look back to the end of last season. They haven't scored 25 points in a game since week 15 of last year. Last 5 outings, they've averaged 13 points, and the team I think has regressed on paper from last year too.

I can't in good faith say that the Cowboys will score 20 points against the Bears defense, It's just not happening (except for maybe a late touchdown if the Bears have already put it away to bring them to 20, still not 20 meaningful points). I don't even care who has the better offense, I'll take the defense who can make takeaways, and the special teams that can put points on the board and fight for good field position.

The Bears offense I think is less about being in sync, but knowing what they're going to go out there and try to accomplish. If Tice and Bates go out there and say, we want to be the dominant running team out there, and call the game that way, the Bears should cruise to a victory. If they want to have a conflicting identity, if they want to be cute, and play deep and middle shots downfield, and use the pass to set up the run, it's not what this team is built for. I know there's the options for that, but right now, there needs to be rhythm that the team needs, and it starts with effective playcalling.

The Cowboys though, their playcalling isn't as suspect as the Bears, its just a team that isn't playing to a level that it's capable of, and hasn't shown it in the last 5 regular season games. I don't know why this week would be any different against a defense that's just as strong as the Cowboys, and an offense that couldn't put points up against 2 better defensive teams in the Seahawks and Buccaneers.

Lastly, one of the Great Texas bands, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead's It Was There That I Saw you.


This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.