Monday, October 19, 1998

Cowboys fall to Bears, 13-12

By MIKE BALDWIN

The Daily Oklahoman

CHICAGO - Goodbye winning streak; hello frustration.

The Chicago Bears marched 67 and 69 yards for fourth-quarter field goals Sunday at Soldier Field to hand the Dallas Cowboys their second 13-12 loss of the season.

And with a bye next week, the Cowboys have an additional eight days to figure out what happened.

Unlike the 13-12 loss to Oakland a month ago at Texas Stadium, the loss to Chicago was a classic example of the better team allowing the underdog to hang around long enough to rally.

"This is a tough game to swallow," said running back Emmitt Smith. "When you look at this Bears team, quite naturally you might think that we are a better ballclub, and in my mind, I think we are. But it didn't show today. They hung in there."

Playing in the weak NFC East, the Cowboys should make the playoffs. But every time they appear to be more than the best team from a bad division, they have a game like Sunday's loss.

"Right now I think we're a team without a personality," said cornerback Deion Sanders. "I don't know what to expect week by week. ... It's going to come into its own and flourish towards the latter part of the season, but we really need to find ourselves."

It's difficult to blame the defense for a loss when it gives up only 13 points. But when it mattered most, the defense failed to clamp down. Dallas went up 12-7 with six seconds left in the third quarter, but the Bears put together long scoring drives in the fourth.

"They made the plays when they had to, and we made too many mistakes," said Cowboys coach Chan Gailey. "You can't win very many games doing some of the things we did out there today. It's something we've got to continue to work on. We've not arrived, which is obvious, but we've got a long season left."

The game-winning points were supplied by a Jeff Jaeger 29-yard field goal with 11 seconds left. The frustration from leading most of the game, only to watch the Bears methodically drive to a game-winning field goal, didn't sit well with many players, including wide receiver Michael Irvin.

"Our team played like (bleep) today, to tell you the truth," Irvin said.

Like a boxer who lacks a knockout punch, the Cowboys allowed the Bears to hang around. Dallas drove inside the Chicago 10 three times but settled for two field goals in the first half before finally scoring a touchdown in the third quarter.

"We know if we had converted those threes into touchdowns it would have been a different ball game," Smith said. "But you can't rest on what could have been. You've got to work on the opportunities that you did have and try to take advantage of those opportunities. They don't come that often."

When it counted most, the Bears dominated. Chicago outgained the Cowboys 140 yards to 24 in the fourth quarter. Dallas held the Bears out of the end zone with 8:24 left, to stay ahead 12-10. But Chicago took over at its own 20 with 5:01 to play and needed only five plays to drive to the Dallas 20 at the 2-minute warning.

"We knew we had to come through. We knew the situation," said linebacker Randall Godfrey. "We were OK in the huddle, but we gave up a couple of plays. We can't do that.. ... We were the better team. We should have won this game. These are the type of games we've got to win."

Since they didn't win, the Cowboys own a one-game lead in the NFC East.

"I hope the players think about this one for two weeks, because I know I'll be thinking about it for two weeks," said defensive coordinator Dave Campo. "That's the approach that we're taking. We've got to get ourselves juiced up for the next one."

When the Cowboys play again, Nov. 2 in Philadelphia, quarterback Troy Aikman will have returned from a broken collarbone that has sidelined him the past five weeks.

"We've made strides, but for every two steps forward we take a step back," Aikman said. "That's something we have to try to avoid. This was tough. There's no question this one a tough game for us to lose today."

The Cowboys are 4-3 heading into the bye week, knowing they could have been 6-1 if they hadn't suffered two 13-12 losses that could haunt them later in the season.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)