Oct 1, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Chicago Bears defensive tackle Henry Melton (69) pressures Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) during the third quarter at Cowboys Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE

The key factor coming into this game for both teams was the poor play of each’s offensive line, but it was the Dallas turnovers –and quarterback Tony Romo being a little too cavalier with the ball– that did the Cowboys in and dropped them to 2-2 on the season.

Romo and Bears quarterback Jay Cutler have been much-maligned throughout their respective football careers for the tendency to turn the ball over too much and take too many risks during the game, but  Romo’s “gunslinger” mentality  doomed Dallas on this night. The 10-year veteran had a miserable night, throwing five interceptions, including two that Chicago ran back for touchdowns.

Despite the turnovers, Romo had a decent night passing the ball, completing 31 of 43 passes for 307 and a touchdown, but all of that will be lost in the interceptions. Receiver Dez Bryant had perhaps his most uneven game as a Dallas Cowboy. The third-year wideout had 8 catches for 105 yards, but dropped multiple third down passes and didn’t seem to have his head in the game early on, running a wrong route that lead to an interception returned for six.

On a positive note, tight end Jason Witten put to rest early predictions of his decline, catching 13 balls for 112 yards and a late touchdown from backup quarterback Kyle Orton.

The Dallas defense, which had been ranked the top defense in the NFL through three games, had a little bit of a wake-up call against the Bears, as well. Cutler used a clean pocket for most of the night to methodically dissect the Cowboy defense for 275 yards and two touchdowns (on only 18 completions), and took full advantage of top target Brandon Marshall. Marshall torched Cowboys off-season acquisition cornerback Brandon Carr for most of the night, grabbing seven balls for 138 yards and a touchdown.

The game started on a similar note as the Seahawks game, with a field goal for the opposing team, and then Romo threw his first pick on a third down play to Bears cornerback Charles Tillman. Dez Bryant was supposed to stop on his route, but kept going and Romo threw the ball where he thought the receiver was going to be, the result was Tillman taking it back for the touchdown and the early 10-0 lead.

Dallas responded immediately, though. Romo went 8 of 9 for 80 yards on the following drive and hit Miles Austin on a crossing route for a 10-yard touchdown to get Dallas within three at the half.

The first drive of the second half is what really did Dallas in. Cutler used a variety of short passes and slants to guide Chicago into Dallas territory and then rookie cornerback Morris Claiborne had his first “welcome to the NFL” moment as playmaker Devin Hester burned him on a double move for a 34-yard diving touchdown to give Chicago a 17-7 lead. Dallas responded again, though, driving down the field quickly and inside the Chicago 15. But on second down, Romo hit receiver Kevin Ogletree in the numbers on a slant, but the ball bounced off and into the waiting hands of Bears safety, Major Wright. It was Romo’s second pick, and the second that really wasn’t his fault.

Dallas got the ball back quickly after, with linebacker DeMarcus Ware strip-sacking Cutler, but the nail in the coffin came immediately after on the Cowboys first play. The Bears brought pressure up the middle and forced Romo to step up, and as he was trying to shovel it to fullback Lawrence Vickers, his hand was hit and the ball ricocheted straight to Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, who broke tackles and ran 74 yards for the touchdown and a 24-7 lead.

Chicago never looked back after that, collecting two more Tony Romo interceptions and tacking on another touchdown  and field goal to get to their point total of 34.

For Dallas, it was an uninspiring home display after a similar result last week against the Bucs. Dallas goes into the bye week with much uncertainty and the Baltimore Ravens waiting for the Cowboys in week 6. Dallas better hope for a better showing then, any chance of a decent season may depend on it.

1. Do you believe in Jay Cutler? Is he the emotional wreck the national media makes him out to be? Tony Romo or Jay Cutler?

MB: I still believe in Jay Cutler, but he’s making it a little harder to do so.  This is sort of a make-or-break season for Jay.  Since he’s been in Chicago, there’s always been an excuse, whether it’s a lack of weapons or the 7-step drops in the old offensive system, there’s been some other reason why Cutler hasn’t been successful.  This offseason, the Bears brought in Brandon Marshall, his favorite target from Denver and drafted promising rookie Alshon Jeffery to bolster the wide receiving group.  They canned Mike Martz and promoted Mike Tice to install a more Jay-friendly offense and added Jeremy Bates, another familiar face from his days in Denver, as QB’s coach to help mentor Jay.

Cutler is made to look a whole lot worse by the national media than here locally.  He has a weekly radio show that he does and seems to be generally affable and has a pretty decent sense of humor.  I think most guys in the locker room respect the competitor that Jay is, but would probably prefer he handle some of his business behind closed doors rather than on the sidelines and in the media.

If choosing between Cutler and Romo, I’d still have to take Jay.  He’s much more gifted physically with a much better arm and enough mobility to get the job done.  Cutler is a few years younger than Romo, so that doesn’t hurt either.

Sep 23, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson (39) is tackled by Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers (90) during the first quarter at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

2. We all see the weapons on offense. Tell us more about Chicago’s defense, outside of Peppers and Urlacher.

MB: Peppers and Urlacher grab a lot of the headlines, but you left off a bunch of guys.  First, how could you miss linebacker Lance Briggs?  He’s been to more consecutive Pro Bowls than Urlacher and is a tackling machine.  You can look for him to blow up at least one DeMarco Murray run for a big loss.

The defensive line has had a resurgence this season with the play of tackles Henry Melton and Stephen Paea.  They’ll be collapsing the pocket from the inside and flushing Romo out for Peppers and rookie DE Shea McClellin.

In the secondary, Charles “Peanut” Tillman is coming off a Pro Bowl season last year and has been solid again to start 2012.  He has an amazing knack for forcing fumbles, so the Cowboys had better practice good ball security.  On the other side, Tim Jennings has been the Bears’ defensive MVP with 4 INT’s and 2 tipped passes that led directly to interceptions by his teammates.  Jennings may only be about 5’8″, but he plays much bigger than his size.

3. How has new offensive coordinator Mike Tice made a difference to the Bear’s offense? And how has new QB coach Jermey Bates helped Cutler this year?

MB: So far, I think Tice may be hampering the Bears’ offense while they’re transitioning to his system.  Ultimately, I think the offense will improve, but the Bears are still going through some growing pains while he tries to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  When the Bears offense has been out of sync, I feel like it’s because Tice has been out of sync.

I don’t know what value Bates has brought other than another Cutler “guy” to coddle him and make him more comfortable.  Cutler’s breakdowns in mechanics, especially when under pressure, are maddening and I’d think that the quarterbacks coach should be able to straighten those out.

4. What’s the Bear’s biggest weakness?

MB: This may sound familiar – Offensive line.  When new GM Phil Emery joined the Bears, he had a lot of holes to fill and for the most part has done a great job, but one area he neglected was offensive line.  Left tackle J’Marcus Webb has been little more than a turn style and starting left guard Chris Spencer has lost his job to free agent Chilo Rachal after just 2 weeks.  J’Webb could be right behind him.  Second year man Gabe Carimi, last year’s top draft choice, missed all but the first 6 quarters of the season to a knee injury.  The hope is that his early season struggles are him just getting his game legs under him, but he’s been vulnerable too.  We expect to see Cutler running for his life early and often on Monday.

5. What’s your prediction for the game on Monday night?  Please include a final score.

MB: The Bears played pretty well in their last trip to Dallas and that was behind a makeshift offensive line.  I’m not sure that they’ll be able to repeat that success this time around.  As much as is made about the offenses, this game comes down to two top-10 defenses.  The Cowboys rank #1 overall while the Bears rank #7.  Each team is 2-1 and the 1 has been a clunker.  I think Jay Cutler spends a good chunk of time running for his life as I’ve set the over/under for DeMarcus Ware sacks at 3.5.  The Bears’ running backs Matt Forte and Michael Bush are both dinged up and their status is up in the air for Monday night, which puts more pressure and Cutler and the passing game.  It doesn’t add up for me.  Cowboys win 19-13 in a defensive showdown.

Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about both the 2012 version of the Cowboys and their regular season opponents.  And, other than a handful of proven elite QBs, it is difficult to predict how a player will play in the future simply upon the prior year’s stats.  But, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the QBRs for the quarterbacks that the Cowboys will face this coming season.

First of all, for comparison sake let’s note that Tony Romo had a rating of 102.5 in 2012 making him the 4th best QB in the league based simply on QBR (behind the usual suspects – Rodgers, Brees, and Brady).  These 4 quarterbacks were the only ones that finished the regular season with a rating above 100.  Although Tony made some bad plays at very bad times, Cowboy fans should not lose sight of the fact that we have a very talented quarterback who should be hitting his prime.

So, here are the 5 best QBs the Cowboys will face in 2012 in descending order based on last year’s QB rating:

1.  Drew Brees, Saints - 2012 rating: 110.2.  Brees had a record setting year in 2012 amassing almost 5,500 yards passing, completing 71 percent of his passes, and scoring 46 touchdowns.  Despite all that, his passer rating was only eight points higher than Romo.  But, that was last year.  Right now, he is mired in a bitter contract dispute and his team is reeling from “Bounty Gate”.  The Cowboys won’t see Brees until December 23rd – the Saints are talented but all the upheaval does not bode well for them in 2012.  It’s likely we catch them after they are already eliminated from the playoffs or resting for the playoffs if they are somehow able to overcome all the adversity.

2.  Eli Manning, Giants - 2012 rating: 92.9.  Giants fans would say, “so what” about Super Bowl XLVI’s MVP having a lower overall rating than Romo and they’d be right.  I’d rather have the ring and so would Tony.  But, it does demonstrate that it wasn’t necessarily Eli’s consistency or dominance that brought home the Lombardi trophy.  He has however developed an uncanny nack to come through in the clutch.  That is something Romo would be wise to try and emulate.  We face Eli twice of course – opening night on the road and then October 28th at home.  I can’t wait to see if our secondary helps our pass rush or our pass rush helps our improved secondary, but not even miracle Eli will be able to pull out the game lying under a pile of Cowboys pass rushers.

3.  Matt Ryan, Falcons - 2012 rating: 92.2. With New Orleans’ troubles, many see a window of opportunity for the Falcons this season and Matt Ryan will be at the center of it.  With Roddy White, Julio Jones, and the ageless Tony Gonzalez to throw to, Ryan is poised to have a good season.  But, similar to Romo Ryan has not been able to deliver playoff wins in his 4 seasons.  The Cowboys have to travel to Atlanta on November 4th in the midst of a brutal stretch of the season playing 4 of 5 games away from Cowboys Stadium.  Ryan is good at home in the dome – the Cowboys new secondary will be tested.

Mandatory Credit: Jim O

4.  Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers - 2012 Rating: 90.1.  The Steelers are always a tough team to beat – especially historically for the Cowboys.  But, they seem to be aging a bit and are facing a very disgruntled #1 receiver, Mike Wallace, who is not happy about how the Steelers have handled his contract situation this off season.  At least the Cowboys get this game – part of the brutal December finish – at home.  Big Ben is never spectacular but always seems to do just enough to pull out a win here and there.  I don’t expect the Cowboys to give him a chance to do that despite the date on the calendar.

5.  Jay Cutler, Bears - 2012 rating: 85.7.  There has been a lot of talk about the Bears this off season being a much improved team.  Granted, they have some weapons – assuming they get Matt Forte back in the fold.  They also traded for Brandon Marshall and drafted Alshon Jeffery, at one point a highly touted receiver prospect before falling a bit in the draft.  The defense will be stout and they help create turnovers and short fields for Cutler and the offense, but despite the fact that I like Cutlers’ “take no prisoners” attitude at times, I don’t see him in the same tier as Romo.  They catch the Cowboys on a Monday night the week before their bye though – which is early in the season before we or the team may have forged an identity yet.  Let’s hope both teams come in undefeated and the Cowboys emerge with a hard fought win as they head into their bye week to rest and heal.

Of course, I haven’t even talked about Robert Griffin III or the likely starter in Cleveland, Brandon Weeden because this ranking was based on last year’s stats.  Both are talented but I would caution people’s expectations to not be extraordinarily high for rookie quarterbacks.  What Cam Newton did was really rare.  The Cowboys also will likely see Matt Flynn with Seattle in the second game.  He had a passer rating of 124.8 but that was almost entirely based on a single game against the Lions.  He’ll have to not only win the starting job in Seattle – not at all assured based on how he has reportedly performed in OTA’s and minicamp so far - but also prove he can consistently perform at a high level.

It was suprising to see where some of the “hot” names from last year actually ranked – Andy Dalton, 80.4, Michael Vick, 84.9, Joe Flacco, 80.9, and Cam Newton, 84.5.  The Cowboys will face all of these guys – Vick and RGIII twice.  Any one of these players can have a good game and play above his rating, but it was certainly eye opening to me to see just where Romo’s season ranked last year among all QBs.  It’s an old cliche to say “it is a game of inches” but cliches exist because they are often true.  Romo had a very solid season and had he gotten just a few breaks, the story of 2011 might have had a happier ending.  Let’s hope the defense can dominate or at least contain these 5 quarterbacks as well as the signal callers on all their opposing teams.  If not, it won’t matter what Romo’s rating is at the end of the day.  Go Cowboys!

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