DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Virtually every game in the NFL during the month of December is a must-win game for contenders, and sitting at 6-6, with Jason Garrett at the edge of his rope, the last thing the Cowboys and their head coach could afford was another lackluster performance in front of a national audience.
Unfortunately for Dallas, and perhaps more importantly Jason Garrett, that is exactly what happened, as the Cowboys were run off of the field in embarrassing fashion in a 31-24 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Things got off to a good start for Dallas, with Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott leading a 17-play 75-yard opening drive that bled almost nine minutes off of the clock and put Dallas on top of a seemingly shell-shocked Bears team.
The drive was even followed up by a Mitch Trubisky interception on Chicago's first drive, leading to the belief that maybe the Cowboys had finally rediscovered their edge from earlier in the season.
From there, however, the wheels completely fell off of the Bus, as the Bears preceded to outscore the Cowboys 31-17 over the next three quarters, completely suffocating the Dallas offense throughout the second and third quarters in the process.
Dak Prescott, who had struggled mightily in the previous two games for Dallas, did so yet again against the Bears, completing just __-percent of his passes, with a good portion of his 334 yards and his late touchdown coming when the game was already out of hand.
Ezekiel Elliott, who was the lone active running back on the roster for the Cowboys heading into the game, added 19 carries for 81 yards and scored two touchdowns on the night, seven carries and 33 yards of which, came on the opening drive of the game.
While the offense struggled in a major way for the Cowboys on Thursday, however, it was an even rougher performance by the Dallas defense, which allowed Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky to accumulate 308 yards of offense and four total touchdowns, including three scores through the air, in what was arguably his best and most complete individual performance of the entire season to date.
Dallas also gave up 152 rushing yards in 33 attempts to the Bears, led by David Montgomery's 20 carries for 86 yards. Allen Robinson also added five catches for 48 yards and two of Trubisky's touchdown passes, while Anthony Miller hauled in the other on a 14-yard reception that put the Bears in firm control of the game.
Now, the Cowboys (6-7) will attempt to rebound next Sunday as they head into their week 15 matchup with the Los Angeles Rams in Arlington, with uncertainty surrounding the franchise.
Whether or not head coach Jason Garrett or kicker Brett Maher will still be employed by the organization at that point remains to be seen, but based off of the body language of the players on the sidelines and the reactions of both Jason and Stephen Jones in their box during the game, it is going to be an uncomfortable week at the Star in Frisco in the very least.
