I have been thinking lately about when I worked the ovens at the local pizza place in high school. Shoutout and RIP to Pat’s Pizza in Grayslake.
Anyway, like most first jobs or low-paying jobs in general, it had elements of repetition.
Folding the pizza boxes for boxing up the pizzas, for example.
It took me a while to get the process down: take flat box, pop the back perforation, slide down and fold up the two sides and front, then slip in the pizza and fold the sides and top of the lid and close it
up.
I did that over and over again and eventually I could do it quickly.
In the context of the Bears and Caleb Williams, I have been thinking about that repetition.
I can only imagine what repping a football play is like at the NFL level. With all of the information and steps you need to process. It would take a long time to truly master. You can do it faster and faster in practice. But now you have defense, with defenders doing different things. And you have footwork, throwing mechanics, where to look based on the coverage, etc.
Caleb took some good steps from week one to week two. Let’s hope he’s going to get sharper and sharper with more game reps.
Pretty soon, he’ll be boxing up pizzas. And by pizzas, I mean touchdown passes. Or something. This wasn’t a well-thought-out analogy.
On to the Cowboys.
Dallas Cowboys
SB Nation site: Blogging the Boys
Record: 1-1, second in NFC East
Last week: 40-37 OT win over the New York Giants
Game day, time, TV: Sunday, noon CT, FOX
Spread: The Chicago Bears are favored by 1.5 points.
Bears all-time record against: 12-16, including postseason
Historical meetings: Back in week three of the 2016 season, the 0-2 Bears went to Dallas to face the 1-1 Cowboys.
The Cowboys scored on their first four drives with three of the scores being touchdowns. The Bears could only muster one field goal before halftime.
Finally, in the third quarter, Brian Hoyer, filling in for the injured Jay Cutler, led a touchdown drive.
Dak Prescott hit Dez Bryant for another Dallas touchdown. Hoyer found Zach Miller for the second time in garbage time as the Bears lost 31-17 on Sunday Night Football.
Ezekiel Elliott finished with 140 rushing yards but no touchdowns as Dallas let Alfred Morris and Lance Dunbar get the short-yardage work.
Last meeting: Week eight in 2022, the Bears got smoked by the Cowboys 49-29.
Justin Fields led the Bears back from a 28-7 deficit to make it a 28-23 game in the third quarter.
But Tony Pollard scored and Micah Parsons returned a Fields fumble for a 36-yard touchdown all but sealing the game.
Injury report: The Cowboys listed four players on their Wednesday injury report.
Limited participation
- T Tyler Guyton (shoulder)
- WR KaVontae Turpin (neck)
Did not participate
- CB DaRon Bland (foot)
- CB Trevon Diggs (illness)
Offense: Dallas enters week three ranked third in yards and fifth in points.
Their passing offense ranks seventh, while their rushing offense ranks 11th.
Dak Prescott (68.6 pct cmp./549 yds./2 TD/1 INT) leads the league in completions and is off to a strong start to the season.
His weapons are CeeDee Lamb (16 rec./222 yds./0 TD), TE Jake Ferguson (14/101/0) and George Pickens (8/98/1). KaVontae Turpin (6/65/1) has carved a role out, too.
Lamb and Pickens are making big plays (averaging 13.9 and 12.3 YPR).
On the ground, it’s been Javonte Williams (33 att./151 yds./3 TD) leading the way. He leads the league in rushing touchdowns after two weeks. Miles Sanders (9/68/1) subs in for Williams. Fifth-round rookie Jaydon Blue has yet to be active this season, despite offseason chatter about his role.
Defense: The Cowboys defense is struggling under former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
They rank 30th in yards and 27th in points allowed. Their passing defense ranks 30th and their rushing defense is 23rd.
Dallas added Jadeveon Clowney this week to add to a pass rush that’s struggled without Micah Parsons. Kenny Clark (1 sk/9 tkl/1 TFL/1 QB hit), the player they got back from the Parsons deal, is playing well. James Houston (1 sk/2 TFL/1 QB hit) and Marshawn Kneeland (1 sk/1 TFL/1 QB hit) are the only other players to get the opposing QB so far.
Former Bear Jack Sanborn (14 tkls/1 TFL) is playing in the middle with Keeneth Murray (16 tkls/2 TFL).
Kaiir Elam (15 tkls) and Malik Hooker (13 tkls) are also among the leading tacklers for Dallas.
Trevon Diggs (5 tkls) has had a quiet start to the year. Donovan Wilson (1 INT/7 tkls/1 PD) and former Bear Reddy Steward (1 PD/4 tkls) are the only two defensive backs with pass breakups.
Key matchups: The Bears defense is going to be outmatched in this one. It’s going to be on the defensive line to get pressure on Dak Prescott to give some relief to the secondary. We know the defensive backs are going to have their hands full with Lamb and Pickens.
On offense, it’s going to be about scoring. This is the worst defense they’ve faced and there should be some openings for Caleb, DJ and Rome to exploit. Getting the running game going for a change will also help keep that potent Dallas offense on the sideline.
Key stats
- The Bears have allowed a league-high 7 touchdown passes. (Source)
- The Cowboys have allowed the most 40+ yard pass plays
- The Bears are 32nd in opposing passer rating allowed, the Cowboys are 30th. And the Cowboys opposing passers are completing 76.6 percent of their passes. The Bears are allowing a 75 percent completion percentage. (Source)
- Prescott has been sacked just three times
- The Cowboys have the third-most rushing touchdowns in the league with four
- The Cowboys rank 31st in third-down defense, allowing opponents to 51.9 percent of their attempts. Their offense ranks first on third down. The Bears defense ranks third on third down.
Can the Bears get their first win of the season and Ben Johnson era against a potent Dallas offense?
