A Chicago Bears Fan's perception of the Cowboys

[ABQCOWBOY]

Was interesting. Half of my Family is from Illinois and the rest are from Texas, Colorado and New Mexico so I have a significant part that are Bears Fans. I watched the game, last night, with one of my family members that is a Bears Fan. Before the game, he said that the only hope the Bears have is that the Cowboys forget about the run and fall in love with the pass like the often do.

About half way into the 2nd quarter, he commented that they aren't running the ball anymore. Was interesting because from about the point he mentioned that, all the way through the 3rd quarter, we didn't run the ball. In the 4th quarter, we went back to it and proceeded to run the ball 6 straight times for 60 yards, down to the Bears 9 yard line. Romo then threw a TD to Beasley for 6.

At that point, my Family member commented, they found the run again but I think it's too late.

After that, the Bears kicked a FG, Orton came in and put together another run heavy drive that produced a TD. We outscored the Bears 14 to 10 in the 4th Quarter but it was indeed too late.

There is no question that the Defense did not do what it needed to to win this game. Nobody is going to dispute that but we all know that our Defense is not going to win games for us. To be frank, they looked out manned before Lee went out. They looked incompetent after he went out. We all know what our Defense is but if you know that, why in the world wouldn't you use the running game to shorten the game, save the Defense and limite the other teams offenseive opportunities? Perhaps because we needed to catch up and score points? Perhaps but at the point we started to go away from the run, the score was 7-7 with about 2 minutes left in the 1st quarter. We started going away from the run there, we killed a drive with sack by Rat of all people, we punted the ball. The Bears scored, to make it 14-7 Bears, we got the ball back and we went right back to the run. That drive produced 5 rushes for 33 yards and got us to the Bears 10 yard line. Romo would then throw a TD pass to Witten for 7 and the game was tied 14-14. with 5:15 left in the second quarter. At this point in the game, we were averaging almost 8 yards a run. We finished the game averaging 7.1 YPC. Our AYPA was 5.2. We went from 14-14 tie to 42-14 Bears lead before we finally went back to the run.

I saw the same thing and I have believed that this team has a fatal flaw, in this regard for a long time now. However, it was interesting to hear this from somebody who I would not even call an impartial fan. A fan of another team that basically said, you guys are stupid. You could have run all day on us.

We failed on D. We could have made some picks and we didn't and that certainly would have helped but we know our D is all but useless to us. We are undermaned and we have been from the start of the season. All the more reason we need to protect them with the running game whenever we can. We could have beaten the Bears folks. I know the score doesn't look that way but we could have. The Bears could not stop our running game and all we had to do was continue to stick with it IMO.

We would go back to a focused running attack till the 4th quarter and everybody saw the results of that.

I just don't get this team. I just don't understand how they see football.

 

[CashMan]

It is about two things: Money and Ego.

It is pretty simple, if you want to see change, stop buying Dallas Cowboys gear. Once, the money stops coming into the Jones', maybe change will happen. I stopped buying stuff in 2010.

 

[Brooksey]

Was interesting. Half of my Family is from Illinois and the rest are from Texas, Colorado and New Mexico so I have a significant part that are Bears Fans. I watched the game, last night, with one of my family members that is a Bears Fan. Before the game, he said that the only hope the Bears have is that the Cowboys forget about the run and fall in love with the pass like the often do.

About half way into the 2nd quarter, he commented that they aren't running the ball anymore. Was interesting because from about the point he mentioned that, all the way through the 3rd quarter, we didn't run the ball. In the 4th quarter, we went back to it and proceeded to run the ball 6 straight times for 60 yards, down to the Bears 9 yard line. Romo then threw a TD to Beasley for 6.

At that point, my Family member commented, they found the run again but I think it's too late.

After that, the Bears kicked a FG, Orton came in and put together another run heavy drive that produced a TD. We outscored the Bears 14 to 10 in the 4th Quarter but it was indeed too late.

There is no question that the Defense did not do what it needed to to win this game. Nobody is going to dispute that but we all know that our Defense is not going to win games for us. To be frank, they looked out manned before Lee went out. They looked incompetent after he went out. We all know what our Defense is but if you know that, why in the world wouldn't you use the running game to shorten the game, save the Defense and limite the other teams offenseive opportunities? Perhaps because we needed to catch up and score points? Perhaps but at the point we started to go away from the run, the score was 7-7 with about 2 minutes left in the 1st quarter. We started going away from the run there, we killed a drive with sack by Rat of all people, we punted the ball. The Bears scored, to make it 14-7 Bears, we got the ball back and we went right back to the run. That drive produced 5 rushes for 33 yards and got us to the Bears 10 yard line. Romo would then throw a TD pass to Witten for 7 and the game was tied 14-14. with 5:15 left in the second quarter. At this point in the game, we were averaging almost 8 yards a run. We finished the game averaging 7.1 YPC. Our AYPA was 5.2. We went from 14-14 tie to 42-14 Bears lead before we finally went back to the run.

I saw the same thing and I have believed that this team has a fatal flaw, in this regard for a long time now. However, it was interesting to hear this from somebody who I would not even call an impartial fan. A fan of another team that basically said, you guys are stupid. You could have run all day on us.

We failed on D. We could have made some picks and we didn't and that certainly would have helped but we know our D is all but useless to us. We are undermaned and we have been from the start of the season. All the more reason we need to protect them with the running game whenever we can. We could have beaten the Bears folks. I know the score doesn't look that way but we could have. The Bears could not stop our running game and all we had to do was continue to stick with it IMO.

We would go back to a focused running attack till the 4th quarter and everybody saw the results of that.


I just don't get this team. I just don't understand how they see football.

I don't think we did abandon the running game. We had to throw before half to get into field goal range, we dropped those passes. We were down by 17pts after the 1st possession of the 3rd quarter, we had to pass some but we never did get away from the run.

I don't think we can run it 40x with this defense and I'm huge believer of the running game.

 

[Crown Royal]

I don't think we did abandon the running game. We had to throw before half to get into field goal range, we dropped those passes. We were down by 17pts after the 1st possession of the 3rd quarter, we had to pass some but we never did get away from the run.

I don't think we can run it 40x with this defense and I'm huge believer of the running game.

The drop by Witten and the subsequent sack (or maybe I got those confused) was DEADLY. You can't stack two bad plays like that and pick back up under normal situations. Which is something that annoys me. Why call those two passes in a row in any case? Once is fine, but if it doesn't work, go back to the well and try to cram it down their throat. Offensively we tend to lose rythym very easily.

 

[TonyS]

Thx for your post. I was thinking the same thing last night. The 2013 Dallas Cowboys are a terrible combination of new faces due to injury on defense and very good talent with very little coaching confidence on offense.

It is almost like Callahan and Garrett are thinking, "we ran it the last 8 times for an average of 9 yards, the defense cannot stop us, but they will commit to defending the run soon. Let's fool them and call a pass play."

Romo gets hurried or sacked and now it is 2nd and 10 and coaches think, "Now we have two plays to get 10 yards, let's run one."

We gain two yards and it is now 3rd and 8 and coaches think, "Now we have to pass."

Pass play fails and we are punting.

What we should be doing in a game like last night's is continue to run it down their throat until they consistently stop it. If and when that happens, you mix up your calls.

I feel like we are making the offensive game plan more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[Zman5]

Preaching to the choir. This isn't the first time this type of crap happened with JG running the offense.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I don't think we did abandon the running game. We had to throw before half to get into field goal range, we dropped those passes. We were down by 17pts after the 1st possession of the 3rd quarter, we had to pass some but we never did get away from the run.

I don't think we can run it 40x with this defense and I'm huge believer of the running game.

Not really. We averaged 7.9 YPC just before the half. At 1.27 to go in the 2nd Quarter, the score was 17-14, ball on our own 29 yard line, we passed 4 times straight and were foreced to punt from our own 39 yard line, giving the ball back to the Bears on their own 40 with 0:47 left. They proceeded to take the ball down the field and score a TD putting them 10 points up at half. We didn't need to throw the ball to try and get a FG. We needed to protect our D and go in at the half tied or at worst, 3 points down and still in very good position to start the 3rd quarter.

 

[17yearsandcounting]

The people I was sitting next to at the stadium diddnt have a clue either.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Your family is smarter than our coaches, apparently.

When I was in high school, our coach, who is a borderline (or maybe he's in now) Texas High School Hall of Famer, said we were going to run our staple running play, the first play you learned and ran in the spring, over and over again until they proved then could stop it. It was simply a basic power running play not too diferent from what Gus Malzahn runs, and both coaches will call it five or six times in a row if it's working.

It's not about being tricky or smart or cute, it's about being effective.

That's coaching 101, but apparently they don't teach that course at Princeton.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

I noticed the same thing. Once we abandoned the run, the offense started going 3 and out. You can't do that when your defense is as bad as ours.

 

[visionary]

great post
i said the same thing at that time

our HC is incompetent

 

[ABQcowboyJR]

They did the same thing in New Orleans. Last night our best chance to put together a successful drive that ended in points was to have run heavy drives. Even when your 14 down you can still afford to run the ball if you walk away with points.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I told my son in the last minute of the first half that if Garrett didnt run the ball on that last drive we would trail by 10 going into the half. The draw play to Murray would have worked and/or would have run more clock than the incomplete passes that Romo was throwing and would have forced Chicago to use some of their time outs if they wanted to get the ball back and try and score.

How can a fan watching on TV see what was happening but our coaches are oblivious to that obvious time management strategy?

Garrett is a disaster and should never have been given the job. We all know Jerry is the main problem but he's not leaving so all we can hope for is a competent coaching staff and right now we simply do not have that in Dallas.

 

[dware94]

Not really. We averaged 7.9 YPC just before the half. At 1.27 to go in the 2nd Quarter, the score was 17-14, ball on our own 29 yard line, we passed 4 times straight and were foreced to punt from our own 39 yard line, giving the ball back to the Bears on their own 40 with 0:47 left. They proceeded to take the ball down the field and score a TD putting them 10 points up at half. We didn't need to throw the ball to try and get a FG. We needed to protect our D and go in at the half tied or at worst, 3 points down and still in very good position to start the 3rd quarter.

On our first possession in the 3rd quarter from the Chi 47 we ran it on 1st and 2nd downs gaining a total of 6 yards. That left us with a 3rd and 4 that we failed to convert, which resulted in a punt. We were down 13 pts at this point, and we were still trying to run the ball. After we punted they drove 90 yds for a touchdown that put them up 21 pts and sealed the game. Who cares what plays you run when down 21 pts in the 4th qtr.

 

[Brooksey]

Not really. We averaged 7.9 YPC just before the half. At 1.27 to go in the 2nd Quarter, the score was 17-14, ball on our own 29 yard line, we passed 4 times straight and were foreced to punt from our own 39 yard line, giving the ball back to the Bears on their own 40 with 0:47 left. They proceeded to take the ball down the field and score a TD putting them 10 points up at half. We didn't need to throw the ball to try and get a FG. We needed to protect our D and go in at the half tied or at worst, 3 points down and still in very good position to start the 3rd quarter.

I don't believe that. That's playing scared against a defense we were having our way with. The pass by Witten should have been caught, hit him in the hands. With 1:27 we are in passing mode and so is every one else. We may mix a few runs/screens/draws but it's a pass first situation. I don't feel we should be worried about running the clock out first, it's not the end of the game, it just halftime.

I 100% believe in this theory at the end of the game just not at halftime. I think we were doing the right thing and our guys did not execute. Either way we can not play smash mouth football with a butter soft defense, makes no sense. Talk about and identity crisis.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

you cannot continue to run the ball if you are not going to get first downs and when you punt the other team drives the field for 7. I mean were the Bears FORCED to run? They took what they wanted. If we played against this defense...I would guess Garrett and company would look like unstopable.

Remeber what Megatron did to the Steelers in the 1st half? What did he do in the 2nd? Other teams find ways to adjust and or remove guys from the game.....why can't we?

Do you recall Rob Ryan not being shy at all about what he was going to do to Dez. He lined people in front of him right at the goaline. What did we do to megatron when the Lions were at the goaline?

The bottom line is this team can compete/beat bad teams...but we are simply not good enough to beat good teams.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

On our first possession in the 3rd quarter from the Chi 47 we ran it on 1st and 2nd downs gaining a total of 6 yards. That left us with a 3rd and 4 that we failed to convert, which resulted in a punt. We were down 13 pts at this point, and we were still trying to run the ball. After we punted they drove 90 yds for a touchdown that put them up 21 pts and sealed the game. Who cares what plays you run when down 21 pts in the 4th qtr.

We averaged 7 yards a carry. In that Series that you are talking about, those were the only two runs in the entire quarter. We were 3rd and 4 and what did we do? After having rushed for 5 yards and 1 yard on 2 carries, we go away from the run and Romo throws a poor pass to Dez that ends up being incomplete. That was with 11:20 in the 3rd Quarter. Those two runs would be the only runs we would try until the 4th Quarter. We did go away from the run.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I don't believe that. That's playing scared against a defense we were having our way with. The pass by Witten should have been caught, hit him in the hands. With 1:27 we are in passing mode and so is every one else. We may mix a few runs/screens/draws but it's a pass first situation. I don't feel we should be worried about running the clock out first, it's not the end of the game, it just halftime.

I 100% believe in this theory at the end of the game just not at halftime. I think we were doing the right thing and our guys did not execute. Either way we can not play smash mouth football with a butter soft defense, makes no sense. Talk about and identity crisis.

You are welcome to believe what you want but I think it's pretty clear. We run the ball against the Bears and we score points. We throw the ball and we get scored on.

For the record, I don't agree with you. It's not a pass 1st situation. The 1st thing you do there is you make sure you prevent the other team from scoring on you and that's the problem with this team. We never do that. We never try and protect ourselves, play smart. The Bears are not a great team. They WILL hurt themselves if you put them in a position to do it. They tried to do it 3 times last night but we couldn't manage to pick a ball.

I don't agree with you.

 

[Future]

They did the same thing in New Orleans. Last night our best chance to put together a successful drive that ended in points was to have run heavy drives. Even when your 14 down you can still afford to run the ball if you walk away with points.

Yep. It comes down to getting a stop when you get behind, and if you score TDs, it doesn't matter if you are running or passing the football. No excuse for abandoning the run the way they did last night.

And where was all this talk about moving Dez around and that sort of thing. Looked like they were running the same S11 as they always do, for the most part.

 

[dware94]

We averaged 7 yards a carry. In that Series that you are talking about, those were the only two runs in the entire quarter. We were 3rd and 4 and what did we do? After having rushed for 5 yards and 1 yard on 2 carries, we go away from the run and Romo throws a poor pass to Dez that ends up being incomplete. That was with 11:20 in the 3rd Quarter. Those two runs would be the only runs we would try until the 4th Quarter. We did go away from the run.

Why would we continue to run the ball down 21 points? You can sprinkle one in here and there, but you cant ground and pound down 21 pts. My problem is why didnt Garrett go for it on 4th and 4 from CHI 42? We had not stopped them all night, and he wanted to give them the back when we could've made it a one possession game. Unreal