3 Cowboys who deserve the most blame for heartbreaking loss to Bengals

The Dallas Cowboys were looking to get their third consecutive win on Monday night before a national TV audience. Instead, a lot of the mistakes that have plagued this team all season reared their ugly head and Dallas fell 27-20 in a game they certainly had a good chance to win.

A few moments in this game stick out and they will be addressed, but a few individual players deserve blame for this loss.

Sitting at 5-8 now, the Cowboys' playoff chances are slim to none and they have nobody to blame but themselves for being in this position. Yes, injuries have been telling the story of this team since the beginning, but players on the field still need to be held accountable.

3 Cowboys who deserve the most blame for Week 14 loss

3. S Donovan Wilson

Donovan Wilson had a rough night up until the very end. Still, the veteran safety who had worked his way into the good graces of Cowboys' fans early in his career is continuing to work his way out. He has played better during the team's past two wins, but against the Bengals he struggled in coverage all night.

The entire secondary had trouble dealing with Ja'Marr Chase all night who had 177 yards and two touchdowns, by far the receiver who has done the most damage against this defense. Wilson had his own problems in zone coverage, struggling to keep up with Cincinnati's tight ends who helped Joe Burrow throw for over 350 yards. In total, Dallas gave up 433 yards, which is right on par with how this defense has faired against respectable offenses this season.

Wilson just looks out of place most of the time he is out there. It has taken all season for some of the players to get used to Mike Zimmer's new defensive scheme, but Wilson continues to look like he is struggling.

With playoff chances fading, this team needs to be shifting towards evaluating talent for 2025. The coaching staff needs to really look at if Wilson is the guy at the strong safety position. He might have gotten a QB hit at end on Marist Liufau's sack, but he struggled most of the night.

2. QB Cooper Rush

It might be harsh to be too critical of the backup quarterback who is replacing a top five guy like Dak Prescott, but Cooper Rush looked like he did when he first took over this season. The past two games he did not have a turnover. Monday night he had a bad one in the redzone.

With the game tied 7-7 and the offense looking to respond, Rush threw a ball in the area of two Bengals' defenders with Geno Stone coming up with the interception. There seemed to be miscommunication and CeeDee Lamb looked like he bumped into a defender, which may have thrown off the timing.

Still, it was a bad throw by Rush. With how good Cincinnati's offense is, Dallas could not afford to waste possessions in the red zone.

Rush has started only 11 games in his career so far, but experienced quarterbacks should know better. The Cowboys' offense also went stagnant after their opening touchdown drive. Rush was a contributor to that as he missed some key throws that could have extended drives.

One off-target throw was nearly picked off by Germaine Pratt towards the end of the first half. If Pratt holds onto the ball, it is a likely pick-six and the Bengals lead 24-10 at halftime, which would have pretty much ended the game. While Rush rebounded with a touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks to open the second half, that was the last time Dallas found the end zone.

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Rush could only muster 183 passing yards against a teetering Cincinnati defense. Expectations should be lowered with a backup QB, but Dallas likely wins this game if they put together at least one to two more scoring drives.

Even a field goal or two might have been enough. Rush does not deserve all of the blame, but he will need to perform at the level he did during the past two wins in order for the Cowboys to win another game this season.

1. CB Amani Oruwariye

Most viewers who saw what happened at the end of the game probably said "Who is that?" Well unfortunately for corner Amani Oruwariye everyone knows who he is now and not in a good way. The special teams player committed an all-time blunder that cost the Cowboys a chance to win this game tied at 20.

The Bengals brought out the punt team after Liufau sacked Burrow on third down. With KaVontae Turpin back there, Dallas might have gotten a good return. Turpin did not even get a chance to touch the ball because Nick Vigil came up the middle and blocked the punt. Unfortunately, Oruwariye chose to touch the live ball, fumbled it and the Bengals recovered. Three plays later, Ja'Marr Chase scored his second touchdown for the game-clinching score.

Oruwariye was activated for the Bengals' game after coming off an injury. It was the worst way to welcome him back.

For a player who had his highest moment grabbing an interception against the Giants earlier in the season, this was the worst thing Oruwariye could have done He was clearly upset with himself as he was even seen walking to the locker room with a towel over his head.

Some fans and Cowboys cynics will easily blame Oruwariye for everything that happened in this game, but that moment was not all his fault. Coaching in those situations matters, too. John Fassel also needs to be held accountable. Outside of Turpin and Brandon Aubrey, Dallas' kickoff and punt operations have been poor for most of the season.

While one could put more of the blame for that happening on the special teams coach, the player still needs to know what to do when something like that happens.

Oruwariye is already drawing comparisons to what Leon Lett did on Thanksgiving in 1993 against the Dolphins. That is tough to live with, but he deserves to be the poster child for this loss.

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