Dallas Cowboys Preview - Giddy Up

By Mike Maguire | Sep 21, 9:18 AM

Cowboys 2007 Record: 2-0
(2006 9-7, fumbled chance to beat Seahawks in NFC Wild Card Game)

Cowboys Offensive Rank: 4^th --- Bears 30^th
(2006 5^th --- Bears 15^th)

Cowboys Defensive Rank: 26^th --- Bears 5^th
(2006 13^th --- Bears 6^th)

Cowboys PPG For/Against: 41.0/27.5 --- Bears 11.5/12.0

All Time Series:
The Bears/Cowboys rivalry predates the Beatles invasion of American. Since their first game in 1960, the Bears trail the all time series 8 wins to 12.

Last Meeting:
The Cowboys won 21-7 on Thanksgiving Day, 2004 in Texas Stadium.

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The Skinny…
The story of Sunday Night is a simple one. The Bears have a sub-par offense and a league leading defense. The Cowboys have a league leading offense and a sub-par defense. Long story short… something has got to give.

Behind Tony Romo, T.O., Jason Witten and a solid two headed backfield beast, the Cowboys have been able to move the ball and score at will against their first two opponents (Giants and Miami). No offense to the Giants and Dolphins, but life is not going to be that easy against the Chicago Bears on Primetime TV in Soldier Field on Sunday Night. Tony Romo (who has been linked to Jessica Simpson and Carrie Underwood during his young career) may be America's latest golden boy, but something tells me that the Bears defense won't be star-struck when lining up against the Dallas QB. As good as Romo has been, Sunday's game in Chicago will be just the 15th game of his pro career. The Cowboys should move the ball at times, but they will also make mistakes and stagnate during some stretches of the game as well.

The Cowboys play a 3-4 pressure defense, and like everyone else, they will be bringing the heat on Rex early and often. How effective the Line (and Cedric) can be in picking up blitz packages will go a long way in determining just how good the Bears offense can be (Sunday and beyond).

The Cowboys are vulnerable to big plays… an aspect of the Bears offense that has been missing in 2007. If the Bears can put up a couple of big plays on offense, this Sunday Night affair could go very well for our Chicago Bears. It is time for the entire Bears offense to play well together, to come together as a group, and (on paper) the Cowboys defense looks like the perfect sparring partner for our boys.

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The Prediction…
The Bears defense is going to be a bit faster and more ferocious on Sunday than Tony Romo is used to dealing with. The Bears are rarely outclassed against top offenses (just ask the Chargers) and this Sunday should be no exception. The defense should hold up their end of the bargain, which brings us to…

The often offensive offense.

The Bears offense should get going against a team surrendering almost 28 points-per game. It's time for Rex to take a step in the right direction (towards the end zone, big guy), for the Line and Cedric to offer some pass protection, for Mushin Muhammad to make more than one catch, for Hester to be used as more than a decoy, for Greg Olsen to justify the Bears faith in him, and for the defense to continue doing it's thing.

In short, it's time for the Bears to put on their big boy pants and step it up, and I believe they are going to do just that (no matter what inside info that Tank Johnson is sitting on).

Bears 27, Cowboys 17