It was a very bad week for Jerry Jones and his Dallas Cowboys.
Last Sunday, Dallas was favored on the road when they met the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. They hadn’t always been favored, but the public backed “America’s Team” in big numbers, driving the line to favor Dallas.
Of course, Dallas was favored and the public jumped on that side of their game. They were playing the Bears, who had only won one of their prior 13 games dating back to last season. Chicago had already lost two games this year, inducing getting scorched for 52 points in a lopsided loss to their NFC North Division rival Detroit Lions the prior week.
Then they played the game, and the Cowboys as a favorite was proven as bogus as a phony ticket sold by a scalper outside the stadium. The Bears rolled to an easy win over the Cowboys, 31-14.
Now, I often refer to a bad defense as a screen door trying to stop wind. But that would be a compliment for this Dallas stop unit. Their defense is like no door at all, just a wide-open hole that offenses in the NFL can run through at will.
It gets worse for Dallas.
In their defeat at the hands of the Bears, the Cowboys also lost the services of their best receiver, CeeDee Lamb. The talented wideout will miss at least two weeks with a high ankle sprain.
But wait, there’s more, as a hawker on a late-night commercial might claim.
In a game the Cowboys had no control over, as if they had any in Chicago, things were not going their way in Cleveland either. Their opponent this week is the Green Bay Packers, who entered last weekend on the top of many lists as the best team in football.
The Packers read their press clippings and then went out and lost to the previously winless Browns on the winner's home field. The Packers seemed to be on their way to a victory, leading 10-0 in the fourth quarter, but then melted down like an ice cream cone in the sun.
Matt LaFleur’s team made a season's worth of mistakes in the final 15 minutes. An interception, missed field goal, and blown defensive assignments were only part of the story that saw the talented Packers outscored 13-0 in the fourth quarter and limp out of Huntington Bank Field with a stunning setback.
Why is that bad for the Cowboys?
Well, instead of meeting a three and oh Packers team brimming with confidence and with a chance of having a letdown against the weak Cowboys, Green Bay is now on full alert off that loss. Now their recent acquisition, Micah Parsons, who was the best player on the Cowboys roster and now plies his skills for the Packers, is not waltzing into this contest expecting an easy win.
No, Parsons and the Packers are marching into this Big D shootout primed for a spirited road effort. That spells doom for the Cowboys … it won’t be close.
Qoxhi Picks: Green Bay Packers (-7) over Dallas Cowboys