Should Dallas Cowboys fans root for the team to lose?

The Dallas Cowboys were once again out-coached in a loss at home. With the staff’s struggles, should fans wish for losses in order to force change?

Sunday night was a tough one for Dallas Cowboys fans to watch. Head coach Jason Garrett let another one slip through his fingers and for the second time this season, he was thoroughly outcoached by someone who used to be an assistant in Dallas (this time it was Mike Zimmer and earlier this season it was Sean Payton).

With the current coach in Big D on the final season of his contract, fans are understandably confused. If they win — which all fans want — Garrett will be extended. But that doesn’t guarantee he will finally find consistency, because he hasn’t yet.

However, should Garrett and the Cowboys miss the postseason, there’s no way Jerry Jones could justify extending him. Which would bring some change, which is much needed. That’s a tough boat for fans to be in, but would they be wrong to root against the team now if it were better for the long-term health of the franchise?

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The answer may have more yes votes following another game full of the same issues that have plagued them throughout Garrett’s tenure. There were missed opportunities, bad penalties, questionable play calls, and of course — the dreaded slow start.

Not only did their team start out slow and make things harder on themselves by going down 14-0, but they then did everything in their power to mess up their impressive comeback attempt.

Down two scores after one quarter, the Cowboys fought back to take a 21-20 lead before again falling behind the Minnesota Vikings. They wound up losing by a score 28-24, but it was how they lost that was most infuriating.

With Dak Prescott absolutely dealing it on a final drive, the Cowboys coaching staff decided to run the ball on the 11-yard line on consecutive plays. Ezekiel Elliott was stuffed both times and ended up losing three yards. That led to a loss, but the stubbornness of the staff was the most alarming issue.

Making it worse, Garrett defended the run calls after the game, rather than admit he was wrong to continue to try and run a 1990s offense in 2019.

"“It’s important for us to continue to try to run the ball.” — Garrett said in his presser, via CBS Sports HQ"

That comment makes sense if the run was actually accomplishing something. On Sunday, it wasn’t. The Vikings came out with a game plan based on shutting Ezekiel Elliott down and while Dak Prescott proved capable of beating Minnesota, their staff knew Garrett and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore were beyond capable of shutting Dak down for them.

And it wasn’t just on the final drive. Even with Elliott running for just over two yards per attempt, the Cowboys continued to run the ball on first down and were setting Prescott up with far too many third and longs. Then when he would pull a rabbit out of his hat and convert, the call would come in as a run straight up the gut — which never worked.

Garrett has proven to be his team’s own worst enemy time and again. He was often guilty of being too conservative throughout the career of Tony Romo and he’s doing it again with Prescott.

His commitment to the run, even when it isn’t working is frustrating and has led to many winnable games falling in favor of the opponent. There have also been many comments made by Jones where he lavishes praise on the opponent’s coaching staff while ignoring the fact that his own group of coaches never seem to leave opponent’s heads spinning following the game.

They don’t have a defensive plan that shuts down the best weapon across from them — see the 183 total yards for Dalvin Cook. They also can’t figure out how to utilize all their players’ talents — Prescott had zero rushing attempts and Zeke was thrown the ball just three times for two catches despite Dak being a great runner and Elliott being a huge weapon in the passing game.

So surely there are a lot of fans out there that have had enough of the missed opportunities and despite their love for the team, they might be ready to take a loss this season if it brings a new vision to the sideline. Dallas is in danger of wasting Dak’s career the way they did to Romo. And right now, a new staff could be the only way to save them from themselves.