Four things to watch in tonight’s Bears-Cowboys Monday Night Football game:
1. Which QB blinks first? – The idea that both Jay Cutler and Tony Romo will play a flawless game is a fairytale. One of them will mess up, and likely mess up at a crucial time. It’s in their blood, it’s their DNA. It’s the reason that both are considered franchise quarterbacks, but not elite quarterbacks. So who will it be?
2. Where is Ware? – J’Marcus Webb either keeps his job tonight or is replaced by Jonathan Scott before the Jacksonville game. That will all depend on Webb’s ability to slow down DeMarcus Ware.
3. Murray must go down, and he must go down hard – Stop DeMarco Murray, stop the Dallas offense. Since Murray took over as the full-time running back for the Cowboys with a breakout 253-yard game last season against St. Louis, the formula for their offensive success has been simple: When Murray has 20 carries or more in a game, Dallas has never lost – 6-0 in that time, going back to Oct. 23 of last season. As a matter of fact, the win over Tampa Bay last weekend was the first time in 11 games in which Murray had less than 20 carries [18] and the Cowboys still won the game.
4. Keep it simple, Mike – Mike Tice’s play-calling the first few weeks has been a work in progress. Keep it simple. The Bears claim to have a nasty one-two punch in running backs Matt Forte and Michael Bush, so use them. Don’t let the Cowboys defense build momentum.