[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Cowboys top Bears, 27-3, but don't improve offense

By Josie Karp / Knight-Ridder Newspapers

IRVING, Texas -- By beating the Chicago Bears, 27-3, at Texas Stadium on Sunday, the Cowboys erased the memory of their opening-game loss to Chicago a year ago. They reversed their 1-3 start of a year ago, improving to 3-1. They kept pace with the first-place Washington Redskins in the NFC East.

The Cowboys did everything but the one thing they spent two weeks trying to do: Improve the offense.

Although quarterback Troy Aikman threw touchdown passes to Anthony Miller and Michael Irvin, he conveyed a sense of frustration after a game in which the Cowboys gained only 180 yards, their lowest total in six years.

"We've struggled, and I'm not used to that," Aikman said. "Those guys that have been here long enough are not used to that. We just can't allow ourselves to accept the mediocrity that we've put out on the field the last three weeks."

The team had two weeks off since edging the Philadelphia Eagles, a period during which they said they were working hard to fix the offense. To prove it, they even practiced twice once day, a ritual usually reserved for training camp.

With all that preparation, the offense generated 46 first-half yards, zero yards rushing and heard boos from the fans.

The running game was practically nonexistent. Emmitt Smith carried the ball just 13 times, gaining only 43 yards. He is still looking for his first touchdown of the season.

The Cowboys sustained only one solid drive, that on the second series of the second half, when Aikman and Irvin twice connected on 26-yard gains, the second for a touchdown that helped put the Cowboys ahead 17-3.

It signaled a drastic and fleeting departure from a first-half offense that never got untracked against a Bears defense that came into the game ranked 29th in the league overall.

"Maybe," Cowboys coach Barry Switzer said, "we're saving it for later."

The offense was on the field for only 25 plays in the first half and virtually none of them worked.

"We had penalties. We had sacks. We didn't move the football real well," said Aikman, who completed just 12 of 27 passes for 144 yards and an interception. "We had chances and we didn't score points and that's frustrating."

Just what, then, were the Cowboys doing for the past two weeks?

"Obviously, after (yesterday's performance) it wasn't enough," Aikman said.

Aikman offered his own remedy for the situation, one that sounded as much like an indictment as a prescription.

"I think that if we execute in practice and pay attention to detail and there's some emphasis on the things that are important, I think that we can have an excellent offensive football team," he said. "If we continue to go through the motions like we have, I am going to stand up here each and every Sunday and talk about how we need to improve."

Even without any production from offensive players, the Cowboys did enough on special teams alone to beat a lowly Bears team that fell to 0-5. Richie Cunningham kicked two field goals and Deion Sanders returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

All the offense could offer in the first half was a two-play, Aikman-to-Miller, 6-yard touchdown with less than five minutes to play.

The score was set up by the defense, when Kevin Smith intercepted a Rick Mirer pass and returned it all the way to the Bears' 6. Smith said he is not tiring of playing on a unit that has been asked to do more than its share for more than a season.

But others are.

"Guys react differently," Smith said. "Me personally, there's nothing I can do. Certain guys, you can tell they're frustrated a little bit. It's three plays, boom, we're punting and it's back out on the field. It's not all of us."

The Cowboys' offense was hoping to eliminate some of the imbalance, focusing in particular during the two weeks of practice leading up to the game on recognizing various blitzes. After not allowing a sack in the opener, the offensive line allowed a total of five sacks against Philadelphia and Arizona.

Running backs coach Joe Brodsky said, unlike against the Cardinals and the Eagles, the Bears showed no new blitzing schemes.

"Zero," Brodsky said.

Assistant head coach Hudson Houck disagreed.

"There were some things that gave us different problems than we faced in the past," Houck said.

What was not open to debate was that the Cowboys' offensive line still had trouble picking up the blitz against the Bears. Aikman was sacked three times, and knocked down on numerous other occasions.

The Cowboys now enter the toughest part of their schedule -- with four out of the next five games on the road -- and have more questions than answers.

"After what we went through last year I think there needs to be more of a sense of urgency with this football team," Aikman said. "How that comes about, I don't know that I can answer that."

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Visit the Star-Telegram on the World Wide Web: www.startext.net; www.arlington.net; and www.netarrant.net.

Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.