Bears 34, Cowboys 18: My Top 10 CBS Contemplations
10. Good news: Cowboys fixed Jason Witten (13 catches) and sliced their penalties to only 2. Bad news: DeMarco Murray only gained 24 yards on 11 carries. I was at Texas Stadium on Nov. 17, 1985 when the Bears beat the Cowboys, 44-0. This felt almost as hapless.
9. I know you'd like to see head coach Jason Garrett slam his fist on the podium and cuss out some players. Publicly, no way. As for the players, lots of long faces in the Cowboys' locker room. Murray hurled his shoulder pads across the room and Brandon Carr let out a violent yell – at no one in particular.
8. Flat out, Jay Cutler was better than Tony Romo and I didn't see that coming. In the 2nd half, in fact, Cutler completed 11 of 12 passes (only incompletion was Danny McCray's deflection in the end zone).
7. I'm sorry, but Mackenzy Bernardeau isn't an NFL-caliber guard. He got mauled last week by the Buccaneers and on Monday night it was Henry Melton that discarded him and got to Romo, forcing the fumbleception returned for a 55-yard back-breaking touchdown. If Bernardeau starts against the Ravens then the Cowboys are fatally flawed.
6. Carr got torched by Brandon Marshall and rookie Morris Claiborne bit on Devin Hester's double-move to give up a long touchdown. Said Claiborne, "I played horrible."
5. Cirque du Soleil performed. Jason D. Williams sang. Victoria's Secret models strutted. The full moon peeked into the roof of Cowboys Stadium. And we were all pinkly aware of breast cancer. Soo … not a total waste of a night?
4. Rob Ryan's defense played valiantly despite all the injuries and the zero help from the offense. At one point in the 2nd half the Cowboys were missing 5 of 11 starters and in the game was a linebacking trio of Dan Connor, Victor Butler and Kyle Wilber.
3. Thank you, Kyle Orton. Without his garbage-time touchdown, the Cowboys would've suffered their worst home loss at Cowboys Stadium and worst home loss since the Saints shellacked them, 42-17, late in 2006.
2. Dez Bryant produced only the 2nd 100-yard receiving game of his 30-game NFL career, and he's never been worse. He misread a "hot" route on a Bears' blitz, leading to Charles Tillman's walk-in score. He dropped a 3rd-down pass at the Chicago 15 with Dallas trailing, 24-7. And totally muffed – with 2 hands on the ball, mind you – a would-be touchdown down the right sideline with the score 27-10 and still 11 minutes remaining. 1 step forward; 2 steps back.
1. As for the enigma that is Romo: By the end of the season he'll have more touchdown passes than any quarterback in Cowboys' history; He and Eddie LeBaron the only Cowboys' QBs to have multiple 5-interception games.
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