The Dallas Cowboys are either on the brink of disaster or going through the darkness necessary to reach the light. It all depends on perspective, or whether your interest in the team is from your couch or a luxury box seated firmly atop a $100 million investment now worth over $5 billlion. On Thursday night, the club takes on the Chicago Bears in a battle of 6-6 records.
Dallas is favored on the road, but there’s a lot at play in the matchup between underachieving franchises. Here are a handful of things we feel will go a long way towards determining the outcome of the game.
Dak Prescott’s confidence level
Prescott played the worst game of his season last Thursday against the Buffalo Bills. Yes, he threw for 355 yards and two scores, but it was an abject failure. He was picked off once, and it should have been three times if we’re all going to keep things a buck here. In addition, he fumbled twice, losing one of them.
The stats aren’t the story, though. It was how he looked in the process and that was of a quarterback who didn’t have confidence things were going to work out. All season long, Prescott has been the strength behind the club, unwavered by the things happening around him. This game followed the loss in horrible conditions in New England, which was Prescott’s worst statistical game of the season thanks to the Patriots’ stellar defense and the miserable weather conditions that throttled both team’s passing attacks.
During the worst stretch of Prescott’s career, from Week 9 in 2017 through the first part of 2018, one of the biggest issues he had was he seemed to be playing with no confidence. New QB coach Jon Kitna and former QB coach now OC Kellen Moore seemed to eliminate that from the equation, but observers need to keep a careful eye on whether Prescott’s flawed mechanics and lack of confidence rear their heads in this contest.
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