Within the first 10 minutes of the Dallas Cowboys’ season-ending news conference on Jan. 7, Jerry Jones addressed the two biggest reasons they had a second consecutive losing season for the first time in 23 years. As owner and general manager, no one is more responsible.
The first one, Jones brought up on his own: Trading Micah Parsons a week before the season started.
The second, Jones was asked about: Hiring Matt Eberflus as their defensive coordinator.
The two go hand-in-hand in what ended up being a group that allowed an NFL-high and franchise-record 511 points — almost exactly 30 points per game. They also gave up 377 yards per game, third-worst in the league.
To illustrate just how bad it was, look at what MVP candidate and New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye did during the regular season: 4,394 passing yards, 31 touchdown passes, 8 interceptions, a 113.5 passer rating while completing 72 percent of his passes.
Opposing quarterbacks against the Cowboys this season:
4,276 passing yards
35 touchdowns passes
6 interceptions
68.5 completion percentage
109.6 passer rating
“It wasn’t the year that we wanted,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “That sucks. And we all got a hand in that. We all got to look at each other critically throughout the offseason and figure some stuff out.”
Trading your best player is questionable at any point. Doing it seven days before opening the season at the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles is a problem.
Regardless of what Jones says publicly, his actions speak much louder. He viewed Parsons as a cornerstone piece of the franchise and had contract negotiations with him in the offseason that would have made the All-Pro pass rusher the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. But things went sideways during training camp and the preseason. It got personal. On Aug. 29, Parsons was sent to the Green Bay Packers, the biggest thorn in Dallas’ side over the last 12 seasons. Jones continues to explain the move by shifting the focus to how much more they can do going forward with the resources they would have invested in Parsons.
Those actions contributed to the second part. Despite Parsons not practicing in training camp, Eberflus planned for him to be on the field when they opened the season. Jones had a reputation of not letting star players in the prime of their careers leave the building. It makes sense why Eberflus would still plan around having one of the NFL’s best defenders.
After trading Micah Parsons before the season started, the Cowboys had to face their former teammate in a Week 4 prime-time matchup at AT&T Stadium. (Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
Without Parsons, Dallas’ defense began the season looking like one of the NFL’s worst. The players didn’t seem to be buying into Eberflus’ scheme. He didn’t appear interested in deviating from his original plan. In his last time speaking with reporters at The Star, Eberflus said he wouldn’t do anything differently.
Regardless of the talent on opposing offenses, career days were always on the table when facing a Dallas defense that gave up far too many big plays in the passing game and rarely took the ball away. Things got so bad that first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer was pulling himself away from his head-coaching and offensive play-caller duties to spend more time in the defensive meeting room.
Despite appearing to turn the corner during a three-game stretch after trading for All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, Eberflus’ group reverted to being what can now be considered the worst defense in team history. Eventually, Schottenheimer felt it was best for Eberflus to leave the sideline during games and call the defense from the coaching box.
Bad defense = no playoffs
SEASONPOINTSPPGW-L
511
30.1
7-9-1
473
29.6
6-10
468
27.5
7-10
436
27.3
6-10
432
27.0
8-8
Eberflus was fired two days after the season ended. Dallas is now looking for what will be its fourth defensive coordinator in four years. Something they’re looking for is what they believe they nailed last January in hiring Schottenheimer as the 10th head coach in franchise history.
“Real passion, real enthusiasm, double great ability to communicate with players,” Jones said last week.
“Bottom line, we need an identity on the defensive side of the ball,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas late in the season. “I don’t think we established that this year. We have to create an identity.
“I think everybody would say that Coach Schottenheimer has a ton of energy, he’s very authentic and has an identity. We’ve got to play to that in all three phases. I think we did in one phase (offense) this year. I don’t know that we established that in the other two phases (defense, special teams).”
Schottenheimer helped build a strong culture during his first season. He was applauded by Jones for how he handled some difficult off-the-field situations, most notably the death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland.
Schottenheimer also guided what was one of the league’s best offenses, getting outstanding production from a group that included Dak Prescott, George Pickens, Javonte Williams, CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson.
In previous seasons, a full year from Prescott usually meant a winning record. Making it worse, Prescott had arguably the best season of his 10-year career, throwing for 4,552 yards and 30 touchdowns for the NFL’s second-best total offense and seventh-best scoring offense. But none of it came close to overcoming how poorly the defense played.
“It’s frustrating,” Prescott said after their Week 18 loss at the New York Giants. “Tired of it. I’ve got to deal with it. But it’s up to me to control. That’s why I say this year is as frustrating as anything, because there have been a number of times being up here talking to (reporters after losses) and saying, ‘I need to fix this. I need to get better at this.’ And to have a season where it wasn’t on my play or I can’t say I should have fixed this or I should have fixed that.
“I mean, I take accountability, don’t get me wrong, in so many ways that the leader I am, I’m frustrated, always trying to figure out what could I have done better, whether it was conversations here or talking to this guy there or whatever it may be, I do still put some of it on myself. But unfortunately, we just didn’t get it done, and yeah, I’m tired and sick of it. But it won’t change the way that I approach this offseason, the way that I lead, and me just giving this game everything that I’ve got, to try to change it.”
Two areas that must be better in Year 2 for Schottenheimer are defensive veteran additions and immediate impact players in the draft. The Cowboys hit on first-round pick right guard Tyler Booker. They appear to have a quality edge rusher for the future in Donovan Ezeiruaku (second round). But there wasn’t enough immediate help from the nine-man draft class. Cornerback Shavon Revel (third) missed most of the season as he was recovering from a significant knee injury. Running back Jaydon Blue (fifth) played only 78 offensive snaps.
Dallas made excellent trades for Pickens and Williams. Signing edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney also proved to be a great bargain. But the Cowboys swung and missed in trades and free-agency additions on several defenders, including cornerback Kaiir Elam, linebacker Kenneth Murray, linebacker Jack Sanborn and defensive end Payton Turner. Elam went from starting to being released in late November.
The new defensive coordinator is going to need a much higher success rate when it comes to filling holes on a roster that clearly didn’t have enough talent at linebacker or defensive back.
The 2025 defense was so bad it somewhat covered up how poorly the special teams unit played. Changes aren’t expected to that area of the coaching staff, but the group clearly did not perform up to expectation. The kick returning unit went from best in the league to middle of the pack while the punt return average was near the bottom of the NFL.
“I’m disappointed, yeah, of course,” Schottenheimer said. “Absolutely. The question is why. We need to look and figure out why. I did not think that we would be 7-9-1. I didn’t think that we wouldn’t be in the playoffs. I expected to be in the playoffs and competing for the Super Bowl.
“We did not do that. That starts with me. And I understand that. But I can promise you this. We’re gonna get to the bottom of it. We’re gonna work our asses off to figure it out. We’re gonna adjust and make changes that we need to do to help us get there.”
The defensive issues could be corrected if everything goes well with their defensive coordinator hire, free agency and a strong draft that includes two first-round picks. But the Super Bowl drought is now at 30 years. There probably has never been a time when Jerry Jones’ ability to run a franchise has been more questioned. He continues to say that he can look himself in the mirror and make changes. If anything, the 2025 season showed what can happen when too many changes are made.
“It reminds me of the old gold miner out in the 49er days of the gold rush of San Francisco,” Jones said recently on The Fan when asked for his message to Cowboys fans who don’t believe the team’s front office can turn things around. “And that old broken down gold miner, he’s got a bad back, his hands have so much arthritis from swinging that pick, and he’s sitting out there and he’s just picking on rock, and nothing’s happening. But the most sure way for nothing to happen is for him to quit picking. And so you keep swinging the pick.
“Now, from the day we’ve become involved here, we said we’re going to swing the pick. That hasn’t changed. We’re sure not going to quit.”