Cowboys news: Jadeveon Clowney will be a game-time decision vs. Bears

After defensive end Jadeveon Clowney signed with the Cowboys this week, he said he planned on making his debut for the team in this Sunday’s game against the Bears.

Clowney has been at practice all three days this week, but it looks like the Cowboys have a different plan for when Clowney will be making his first appearance of the season.

Executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Patrik Walker of the team’s website, that it will be a game-time call about playing Clowney this week. Jones added that “the lean is toward him not playing this week,” so something would have to change the team’s minds over the next 48 hours.

FRISCO, Texas — Matt Eberflus does not want to rehash his 46-game stint as head coach of the Chicago Bears. He has other things to worry about this week.

As the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys (1-1), how does he fix a secondary that was hit for 450 passing yards by Russell Wilson in last week’s 40-37 overtime win against the New York Giants? How does he fix a group that allowed seven pass plays of at least 25 yards? Where does he generate a pass rush that has been a tick slow in getting to the quarterback in the first two games after trading Micah Parsons?

That the Cowboys’ opponent on Sunday is the Bears (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox), the team he was coaching 12 months ago, means little.

He “cherished” his time in Chicago. He wished they had won more games. But he won’t look back with regret.

“Yeah, there’s always hard moments in coaching,” Eberflus said “You’re always disappointed when you lose because you put so much into it, the players put so much into it. You’re most disappointed for the players. Once that settles in, then you work to the next day. The sun comes up and you move forward. You learn and you grow, and you keep going. That’s what true grit is. That’s what we’re all about.”

If the Dallas Cowboys’ defense plays all season like it did Sunday, they will be picking in the top 10 in next April’s NFL Draft. After improving in the second half of the season opener, the group took a major step back in its 40-37 overtime win over the New York Giants.

“As much as anything, it’s buying into the scheme,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this week on 105.3 The Fan. “You’ve got to handle your responsibilities. And then make that play if it’s there. But you can’t just be out there trying to make a play. You got to have your responsibilities. Make sure that’s covered before you abandon that area and try to go out and make a play. You can’t be a Lone Ranger out there. You gotta be a part of a team.”

Playing without starting cornerback DaRon Bland, who is dealing with a foot injury, starting corners Trevon Diggs and Kaiir Elam were part of several highlight throws from Giants QB Russell Wilson to his top targets, wide receivers Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson. The two combined to catch 17 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson’s 450 passing yards were the second-highest total in his 14-year career.

“It was not the standard,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “I think there are a lot of things we can clean up. I think that’s what I’m excited about. This is not a multiple week thing. This is something we think we can correct. I felt like it was a lot of different pieces, a lot of different parts. It wasn’t one person. It wasn’t one type of coverage.

“When you’re going to be multiple the way we are we have to communicate better. I didn’t think that our communication was to the standard that it needs to be. … Any time you give up seven explosive passes, and (Wilson) played incredibly well, but there was a lot of things that we can tighten up. … We’re going to make the corrections. And we have to, because giving up those types of plays, you’re not going to win many games, and we were very fortunate to find a way to win.”

The Cowboys insist that they will be more multiple, however, through two games it’s been mostly zone coverage. New Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said that can be attributed to the opponent and player availability.

“I think when you give up big plays, I don’t think they’re minor,” said Eberflus, who was fired in Week 13 last season as Bears head coach after going 14-32 in two-plus seasons. “Those are major things. We have to do a better job of all 11 players, including the coaches, executing on the certain play, this play, that play, whatever it might be. But you have to execute, and that’s coaches and players.”

When the Dallas Cowboys signed Javonte Williams to a one-year, $3 million deal in March, many assumed it was the first step of many in their quest to address the running back position. Higher regarded free agents were still available, and the draft class was as deep as it’s ever been at the position. Williams was probably nothing more than a complementary piece, many believed.

As the offseason unfolded it became apparent Williams was no complementary piece, rather he was the lead horse. Dallas added additional runners to the stable but none of them carried the same weight or pedigree as Williams did. It was Williams or bust in Dallas, and for a while there, it felt like “bust” was the odds-on favorite regarding outcomes.

Then a funny thing happened: Williams played well. Really well, actually. Two weeks into the young 2025 season and Williams is producing like the top RB in the NFL. The 25-year-old veteran is currently leading the NFL in EPA/play and total EPA. His yards after contact are top 10 and his Pro Football Focus rushing grade ranks second, only behind Alvin Kamara.

Dallas will look to move to 2-1 on the year and get their defensive coordinator, former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, a victory in his first trip back to the Windy City after a tough three-year stretch where he amassed a 14-32 record in Chicago in his first NFL head coaching stint.

Now, it’s Brian Schottenheimer who is in his first role as a head coach, and he hopes that Eberflus and his defense can rebound from a performance that “was not the standard” against the Giants last Sunday.

How can they do that? Let’s talk about it in this weeks’ edition of “Here We Goooo:”

Keep it rolling on play action

The Cowboys’ running game has gotten off to a stronger start than many expected, and we’ll cover more of that later. For now, the threat of Dallas having success in the ground opens a door that Dak Prescott has had a lot of success walking through: The play action passing game.

For his career, Prescott has thrown for 8,692 yards, 55 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and a 67% completion percentage on play action. That’s the seventh most yards on play action in the NFL during that time span, and sixth most among active quarterbacks. In 2025 thus far, he’s gone 16/18 for 168 yards.

Chicago’s defense is both banged up and young, especially at the cornerback position. Tyrique Stevenson and former Cowboy Nahshon Wright will likely get a bulk of the workload on the outside with Jaylon Johnson out and Kyler Gordon’s status in the air. That should be a welcome sign for Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

It certainly was a welcome sign for Jared Goff and the Lions’ offense last week as they faced their former offensive coordinator and now Bears head coach Ben Johnson. On play action passes, Goff completed 12 of his 14 passing attempts for 198 yards and two of his five passing touchdowns en route to a 52-21 blowout victory.

Dallas certainly has the weapons in place to replicate that kind of performance and is coming off a week where they scored 30 points in the second half and overtime.