Cowboys’ nightmare proven serious after Bears become latest to expose huge problem, ‘historically awful’

The Cowboys’ defense struggled again, with no pressure up front and weak coverage downfield

The Dallas Cowboys went into Week 3 of the season with a bottom-three defense in the NFL. They were allowing 404 yards per game through the first two weeks, with a poor showing in Week 2 against their NFC East rivals, the New York Giants.

Dak Prescott and the Cowboys escaped with a win late in the game against the Giants, despite giving up 506 yards in the game and allowing quarterback Russell Wilson to throw for 450 yards and three scores.

The Cowboys’ secondary had no answer for Malik Nabers all afternoon, with the star receiver accumulating 167 yards and two touchdowns on nine catches.

This week, Dallas had a new opportunity against a struggling offense, going on the road to play Caleb Williams and the 0-2 Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.

Cornerback Trevon Diggs had vowed the unit would be better after getting ‘exposed’, but their struggles continued in Week 3.

Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus was returning to the team he coached last season, and the quarterback he was responsible for developing as a rookie.

In the first half of that game, Caleb Williams completed 10 passes for a devastating 239 passing yards and three touchdowns, with the Bears’ offense exposing the Cowboys’ defense deep on multiple occasions.

Ben Johnson had his offense running trick plays, and even though Caleb had to wait for the toss back to him to come down, he still heaved a deep ball and had a man wide open behind the safety.

Williams threw for more yards and more touchdowns in the first half against the Cowboys than he had in either of the first two games he played this season.

Late in the third quarter, the Bears quarterback threw his fourth touchdown of the day to DJ Moore, who was wide open without a defender in sight in the middle of the field.

The Cowboys have been without DaRon Bland since Week 1, after signing a four-year, $92 million contract before the season began.

His absence only amplifies the lack of depth in the Cowboys’ secondary, which had allowed more passing yards per game than 29 teams in the league going into this weekend.

Dallas will now face Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers on prime time in Week 4, and the backlash if they lose that game with similar issues is going to be deafening.

They did sign Jadeveon Clowney this week, and while he won’t be a Parsons replacement, he should at least help to apply a little pressure off the edge.

Absence of Micah Parsons is allowing opposition QBs more time to throw than ever

The elephant in the room is the lack of pressure, with the Cowboys failing to sack Caleb Williams at any point in the game.

Caleb Williams was the most sacked quarterback in the NFL last season. This was the first time he’d ever played a whole game without being sacked at least once.

The absence of Micah Parsons and the planned ‘schemed pressure’ is putting consistent strain on a weakened secondary, and the Cowboys are paying the price on the box score.

Jerry and Stephen Jones told the media that they, and coordinator Matt Eberflus, felt they could scheme pressure without Parsons. That’s proving to be false so far this season.

Through the first two weeks, Dallas had the second-worst QB completion percentage allowed at 76.5%. Only the Miami Dolphins had a worse record after two games.