Dallas Cowboys: 5 Players that must shine vs. Bears in Week 14
The Dallas Cowboys need a bounce-back win on Thursday in Chicago and these five players will be X-factors to make that happen against the Bears.
If not for the Eagles also looking like a bad-to-mediocre football team, it would be the worst of times for the Dallas Cowboys. Despite the fact that they lead the NFC East and are still in line to make the playoffs, Jason Garrett‘s team has looked horribly disappointing in the last two weeks against the Patriots and Bills, the latter on Thanksgiving.
Now sitting at 6-6, it surely seems that a team laden with elite talent like Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Jaylon Smith, Amari Cooper and many more is struggling to stay above the .500 mark. That comes down to the coaching to a very large degree, something that has been discussed frequently over the past few weeks. On a certain level, however, the players have to step up in big moments.
In Week 14, the Cowboys travel to Soldier Field to face the Chicago Bears, another team disappointing this season — though for entirely different reasons. Whatever the case, this is one of those big moments for America’s team.
And these are five players that will be X-factors for the Dallas Cowboys in bouncing back and picking up a win over the Bears.
5. Jourdan
Despite the struggles of Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears offense this season, Allen Robinson has been a standout on offense, tallying 71 receptions for 850 yards and five scores through 12 games. Dallas will undoubtedly focus heavily on Byron Jones and Chidobe Awuzie working hard on the outside against Robinson.
In the past two weeks though, the Bears passing offense has gotten a bit of a jolt. That is partially due to facing two bad defenses in the Giants and Lions — though the Cowboys haven’t looked great either — but they’ve also spread the ball around, particularly with Anthony Miller stepping up and making big plays.
Miller could be a killer on Thursday night, which is where Jourdan Lewis will need to come up. If he draws a lot of slot coverage responsibilities in the nickel, the Michigan product will need to lock up Miller to help keep this Bears offense looking nothing more than mediocre at best.