Every member of the Dallas Cowboys’ defense probably had some soul-searching to do after allowing the Chicago Bears to score on every offensive possession (barring a final kneel down) on Monday night.
The Cowboys allowed Josh McCown to throw for 348 yards with four touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a 45-28 loss to the Bears.
The Dallas defense has struggled all season. They are allowing 427 yards a game - most in the league. It’s been a collective failure by the Cowboys defense but linebacker DeMarcus Ware is placing some of the blame on his shoulders as well. According to Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com, Ware says he isn’t playing up to the standard he’s expected throughout his career.
“At the end of the day I haven’t been playing like the DeMarcus of the past and I got to get back to that,” Ware said. It’s December (and) people always say the light turns on in December and you set yourself apart from everybody and I got to get back on track with that.”
Ware has managed just six sacks and 30 tackles on the season. His lowest career sack total was eight as a rookie in 2005 and lowest tackle output was 56 last season. He’s on pace to fall short of those marks in both categories this year.
Ware may be having a sub-par season by his standards, but he certainly isn’t alone in that regard in Dallas.