All the optimism Dallas fans felt after last week’s win over the Giants went up in flames, as they fell 14-31 to the Bears. Nothing clicked for Brian Schottenheimer’s boys. And Dak Prescott wasn’t shy about pointing out exactly what went wrong.

It was a bad night all around, but it was the offense that was the biggest letdown. The quarterback echoed that sentiment.

“Scoring 14 points is never going to be OK, ” he said. “Dang sure not with this offense, this unit, the team, the players that we have. Not acceptable. Not to our standard. Not anywhere what we believe in and we’re capable of doing,” he added. The gut punch?

The offense actually moved the ball. Dak went a crisp 31-of-40 for 251 yards and a touchdown, the team stacked up 292 through the air and another 121 on the ground, over 400 total. On paper, that’s the recipe for a 30-point game. And yet… 14 points. Fourteen!

That’s the kind of box score that makes you squint at the TV and wonder if the scoreboard operator fell asleep. Prescott wasn’t shy about it either, calling the performance “not acceptable,” which is Dak basically asking the offense to wake up and capitalize on the potential it possesses. So what actually went sideways?

In one word: turnovers. Dak threw two picks in the fourth, Joe Milton III chipped in one of his own, and there was even a fumble for good measure. It was like the Cowboys were hosting a giveaway night, except the prizes were scoring chances. Drives died, momentum evaporated, and points went up in the air. Then came the red-zone horror show.

Dallas cruised between the 20s like Brian would want them to, only to slam on the brakes when it mattered. All sizzle, no output. They’d march, they’d sparkle, and then… three snaps, a field-goal attempt, or worse, a turnover. The cruel twist?

The weapons were actually putting on a show. Jake Ferguson vacuumed up thirteen catches for 82 yards, while newcomer George Pickens found the end zone and tacked on 68 yards. The pieces are clearly there, if only the Cowboys could stop gift-wrapping the ball and figure out how to cash those yardage checks for actual points.

And as gut-wrenching as this loss was, Jerry Jones is still standing tall.

Jerry Jones makes a bold playoff statement

Despite the 1-2 record, Jerry Jones can’t help but fixate on this team’s potential. “I will tell you, yes. It’s because you saw No. 4 out there today and you saw what we’re capable of doing in the run game…As we evolve toward the playoffs, we have to get better defensively. Certainly,” he said.

So, is all that playoff chatter realistic? On paper, yes, it’s not nuts to think about. Dallas has been racking up yards early in the season. After all, they’re among the league leaders in total yards per game. The offense can be explosive when they don’t let out self-inflicted mistakes. They need to turn those yards into points. And consequently, wins.

What needs some fixing, as Jones himself pointed out, is the defense. This Cowboys unit looked rather vulnerable in Week 3. The Bears threw four touchdown passes and kept strolling down the field with ease. And those holes? They’re only bigger now. Thanks to some very controversial offseason roster moves (hello, Micah).

Replacing game-changing defensive structure is never easy, and the Cowboys will need to show real progress on that side of the ball if they want all this playoff talk to mean anything. But it’s not crazy to say that they’ve looked better than we expected. The potential is there. It just needs a little polishing.