IRVING, Texas – As bad as things are with the Dallas Cowboys after Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bears, they can take solace in the fact that they are not the Washington Redskins.
The Redskins' season has cratered, coach Mike Shanahan benched quarterback Robert Griffin III and won’t even have him active for Sunday's game in Atlanta. Shanahan’s motives might be questioned. Is he doing it for Griffin’s future and the team’s future or doing it to get fired?
Anyway, that move does affect the Cowboys.
They will see the Redskins at FedEx Field on Dec. 22 and Kirk Cousins should be the quarterback, provided he doesn’t get hurt or if Shanahan decides to go with Rex Grossman in that game.
That would appear to be good news for the Cowboys as they face the challenge of possibly having to win their final three games to make the playoffs.
If Cousins starts, then he could be the fifth backup quarterback the Cowboys will have faced in 2013. And that does not include Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder, who was the starter, got hurt, lost the job but started against the Cowboys on Nov. 3.
When the Cowboys faced the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 20, Nick Foles was making just his second start with Michael Vick out with a hamstring injury. The Foles the Cowboys saw that day was not the Foles that has Philadelphia in first place in the NFC East. Foles completed 11 of 29 passes for 80 yards before he was knocked from the game with a concussion.
The Cowboys are likely to see a backup quarterback for the third straight game when the Green Bay Packers visit AT&T Stadium on Sunday with Matt Flynn expected to start as Aaron Rodgers continues to recover from a collarbone injury.
On Thanksgiving, the Cowboys were able to hold Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt McGloin in check to a degree with 255 yards on 18-of-30 passing with no touchdowns and an interception.
Monday was a disaster against Chicago Bears backup Josh McCown. He was making his fourth start (and third in a row) for an injured Jay Cutler and lit up the Cowboys for 348 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a score.
So maybe seeing Cousins in two weeks might not be such a great thing after all.