Five takeaways from Cowboys’ blowout loss to Bears: The secondary needs a change
The Dallas Cowboys made the trip north to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears, and did not find any consistency on either side of the ball in a blowout 31-14 loss at the hands of a team that gave up 52 points a week ago.
It’s not a bright sign for a Cowboys team that still had a lot of questions to answer after two polar opposite performances in two weeks. Now, the verdict is starting to roll in that the Cowboys may have more issues than solutions early in the tenure of head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the team’s loss in Chi-Town:
A change has to be made in the secondary
Whether it’s putting different players on the field or going away from such a heavy usage of zone coverage, a change needs to happen now in the Dallas secondary.
After giving up 450 passing yards to Russell Wilson a week ago, the Dallas defense allowed 298 yards to second-year quarterback Caleb Williams on Sunday. Big plays from rookie Luther Burden III and Rome Odunze were scattered throughout the first half, helping the Bears jump out to a 10-point lead at halftime that they would not surrender. In all, the Cowboys gave up five pass plays of over 20 yards after giving up seven against the Giants.
“We have to be better,” cornerback Kaiir Elam said. “No ifs, ands or buts about it.”
“We got to eliminate the big plays,” cornerback Trevon Diggs said. “We have to do the things we’ve been doing in the past and get right. I believe in all of these guys, and we believe in each other. We’re not going to give up on each other.”
How much more does Dallas need to see to make a significant change? Nothing that this secondary has shown over the past two weeks has given any sort of hope toward the current layout correcting the many mistakes that have happened already.
With a schedule that still has quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Jared Goff on the slate, things need to get figured out quickly.
CeeDee Lamb is even more valuable than we think
Somehow, CeeDee Lamb’s value can’t be understated.
After Lamb exited with a left ankle injury in the first quarter while playing running back, the offense failed to find any sustainable momentum for the rest of the afternoon. Even when it tried to work through George Pickens, it was met with more problems than solutions, punctuated by a fourth-quarter pass that bounced off his hands and into the grasp of a Bears defender for an interception.
With Lamb out, Dak Prescott fed Jake Ferguson instead, who set a career high with 13 receptions as a result of Prescott looking for any sort of comfort in the pass-catching department.
If the ankle injury to Lamb is anything more than him missing most of Sunday’s contest, it could be a struggle for a passing offense that was shining through two weeks to find consistency moving forward.
“This was one of those ‘protect me away from myself’ type of deals,” Lamb said.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” he added when asked if it’s something he can play through.
Writing is on the wall for Trevon Diggs
After making his way back from offseason knee surgery in time to play in Week 1, Diggs once again popped up on the injury report Saturday afternoon as he continues to deal with soreness in his twice surgically repaired left knee.
Diggs went through a 25-minute pregame warmup session to determine he would play Sunday, but it didn’t take long for the Bears to go after him. In the first quarter, Williams targeted Odunze on a man-to-man coverage that saw Diggs slip at the line and allow the second-year Washington product to get over the top for a 35-yard touchdown grab.
“No one likes to lose,” Diggs said. “I feel like this week was an execution [problem]. We gave up some big plays at the beginning of the game, and then it was a snowball effect.”
In the second half, Diggs exited briefly after suffering a shoulder injury while making a tackle. After the game, he said it was more of a stinger and that there weren’t any major issues.
Availability is the best ability, and reliability is a close second. Right now, the Cowboys aren’t getting either from Diggs. With a very viable out in his contract looming this offseason, the writing is getting more etched on the wall with each week that passes.
Who will step up in the pass rush?
Remember when less than a month ago the Cowboys had one of the best pass rushers in the NFL? Me too. Well, that is very far from the reality now.
The Cowboys have more than enough options to help fill that void left by Micah Parsons, as Dante Fowler is coming off a double-digit sack season, Donovan Ezeiruaku comes in with a lot of excitement and Sam Williams had a solid training camp as he works his way back from an ACL tear.
But the reality now has the Cowboys looking at just three sacks in three games as an entire defensive unit. Who will step up and try to give some help to a pass defense that desperately needs it?
“If we get them in more dropback situations, I think we’ll have more opportunities to rush,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “With play action, it’s harder to rush when you have teams in those situations. The more dropback situations we can get teams in, the more we can rush the passer and pin our ears back.”
Veteran Jadeveon Clowney, who was signed after the win over the Giants, was inactive Sunday but should make his debut next Sunday night when the Cowboys host Parsons and the Green Bay Packers.
The offensive run game has legit juice
If you want to take anything positive away, you can look at the offensive run game and take some substantial optimism away with how it has performed through three weeks.
In a game where the Cowboys needed to scheme some more running lanes without starting center Cooper Beebe, the offensive coordinator hire of Klayton Adams has proved to be valuable in the Schottenheimer system. The Cowboys found significant push up front against a solid defensive front.
In all, the Cowboys averaged 6.1 yards per carry on a day when Javonte Williams once again broke off some impressive runs to help sustain drives.
If the defense can show some sort of pulse and the offense can get Lamb back, the run game will be a key cog in helping the Cowboys win some games.
This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 6:19 PM.
