The Dallas Cowboys have gone from embarrassing to inexcusable and unconscionable.
How else to explain Sunday’s performance in the 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Tired legs following three games in 11 days including two 10-hour flights to and from Brazil and a short week are no longer the game.
They had 10 days off following a 24-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-5) and a rookie free agent quarterback that a bystander called embarrassing in the post game, raising the ire of quarterback Dak Prescott.
They were fresh, added a new coach in senior defensive assistant Mike Pettine to help overwhelmed first-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker, and made two lineup changes. They started Brevyn Spann-Ford at tight end over Jake Ferguson and Malachi Lawrence over Donovan Ezeiruaku at edge rusher.
The end result was the worst performance of the season from quarterback Dak Prescott and an offense that came into the year calling itself GOTI for Greatest Offense There Is.
Prescott tossed two interceptions, including one with Pro Bowl receiver CeeDee Lamb slipping down. But he was off kilter for the entire game due to the Packers blitzing scheme.
And the supposedly vaunted Cowboys offense was held under 20 points for the second straight week. After averaging 30,5 points per game through the first four weeks, the Cowboys scored 13 and 13 in back to back to back games.
While the defense has some moments, including three sacks and an interception, the unit continues to get beat over the top and fails to get off the field. The Packers converted on nine of their first 11 third downs as they took a 17-0 lead to halftime.
The last time the scored fewer than 20 points in consecutive games with Prescott starting both was in 2019. The Cowboys defense has now allowed 20 or more points in 13 consecutive games. It’s the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest streak in franchise history.
The Cowboys are now 2-4 to start a 2026 season that began with the team openly talking about reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since 1996. They are 9-13-1 since Brian Schottenheimer replaced Mike McCarthy as head coach.
Only two of the nine wins were team’s with a winning a record.
The stint has included the firing of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus after his abysmal unit in 2025 was one of the worst in franchise and league history and hiring of Pettine to help out the 34-year-old Parker, whose unit has not shown any improvement.
When is Schottenheimer going to be held accountable for the team’s abject performances?
While vice president Stephen Jones said the front office is frustrated and disappointed about how the the Cowboys are playing, he and owner Jerry Jones remain firmly behind Schottenheimer as coach.
“There’s not any question in (Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’) and my mind,” Jones said of their faith in Schottenheimer. “He has the team. There’s no question they want to go out there and execute and make things happen. Feel really good about our coaching staff. We just got to have it continue to evolve and get to a point to where we can win these football games.”
The Cowboys have fired just one football coach during the season and that was Wade Phillips in 2010 following a blowout loss in Green Bay when he felt the team quit.
The Cowboys are not there with Schottenheimer largely because the team is still playing hard and the NFC East remains wide open with the New York Giants leading the way at 3-2-1. The Cowboys are in second place with the Philadelphia Eagles at 2-4.
They play at the Eagles next Monday. And Philadelphia just lost starting quarterback Jalen Hurts for the season.
“We got a lot of football to play,” Jones said. “We’ve got resolve. We just got to go back to work. We like the players. We like the coaches.”
Schottenheimer admits being frustrated and takes ownership in the team’s perforformance.
He believes they can turn it around because the fight is right. He said problems mainly execution, not effort.
“Well, there’s definitely time to pull out of it, but we got to fix the mistakes that we’ve talked about,” Schottenheimer said. “Like this is something that we’ve addressed and talked about. And, again, it starts with myself and the coaching staff to understand, again, the ball matters more than anything, in the National Football League, it’s the ball. Second, it’s the line of scrimmage, and we haven’t been very good in the last two games, so that’s what we’re responsible and accountable for. And I stand up here and accept that.”
Schottenheimer believes the Cowboys have the players.
Ownership believes the coaches are right.
The division is wide open for the taking.
Is that enough for the Cowboys?
“No. It is about us fixing our issues, cleaning house and just getting better,” Prescott said. “From there, you said the division is open, that will take care of itself. We have to win first and we have to get going and from there we can try to build. It is about finding a way to win.”
Prescott said no one is more surprised and frustrated than the players are about their struggles on offense.
“Yeah, definitely surprising,” Prescott said. “Nobody that is on that field and part of the offense expected that, but we are the only ones who can fix it. It falls on us.”
Prescott said the players have confidence that Schottenheimer is the right man to lead the turnaround.
“Yeah, just the man he is and that way that he approaches each and every day with the same process,” Prescott said. “Adversity has hit us and we have to answer. We have to look at it dead in the face. This will test not just Schotty, it will test myself, test this whole team. It will test this brotherhood that we brag about that we say we are going to hang our hat on. It is going to test that and we are going to see what we are made of.”
And if they don’t pass this test?
