I rewatched the game and have some thoughts.
The Cowboys were dominant until about 5:30 in the 2nd quarter when things started to get sloppy on defense. The offsides call Fowler lined up offsides) on Dallas negated a failed 3rd down pass and gave the Bears a 1st down. They probably would have punted there from their own 32 or maybe they would have gone for it. But on that TD drive the Bears got a lot of breaks including that roughing the passer call on Golston. On that same drive, on a 3rd and 4, Fields ran for a 1st but that was the play we've seen where the RT holds Fowler and pulls him to the ground. If Holding is called there is would be 3rd and 14 from the Bears 43. I honestly do not know how they could not call holding on that play.
As for the Roughing call on Golston, I watched this in slow-mo and super slo-mo a dozen times and I just do not see how they can call roughing the passer on that play. Golston leaps to block the throw and actually tips the balls just as Fields releases it. He also tips Fields's hand as his hand continues forward. On the way down Golston's right arm hits Fields upper chest. It was not a forcible blow, it was incidental as he comes down after blocking the pass. Golston did not extend his arm from his body to make the contact. That was a huge play because Diggs intercepted the tipped ball. Instead of Chicago driving for a TD before the half, The Cowboys would have had the ball around mid-field with about a minute to playin the half with 1 time out remaining. Golston complained and I thought he had a right to complain.
The Bears got a number of breaks on penalties. On the TD pass to Kmet, Parsons was pulled to the ground allowing Fields to get off the pass. Should have been another holding call. btw, I paid particular attention to the way they blocked Parsons. Parsons did not use a rip move that often. He is just that quick getting around blockers and they wind up using arm bars to stop him. That is supposed to be holding. A few times it was so egregious I can only wonder what the refs were watching. When they finally called holding, it was a ticky tack hold, but it doesn't make up for all the other holding that was going one. There was a lot of other holding on the Bears.
After the Bears scored their 2nd TD to make it 28-14, the Cowboys should have run out the clock instead of trying to be aggressive. That intercepted pass from Dak wasn't a killer but it could have been.
Speaking of Parsons, he is not 100%. Hopefully the off week will allow him to get healthy and re-energized.
Hankins makes a difference. I watched his play carefully and he does not give ground even when he is double teams. On a few plays he shoved the Bears guard into the backfield. He also drives blockers in the direction of the play. Overall, The Cowboys inside DL did not give up that much. Just a couple of plays where the tackles got lost in traffic.
Demarcus Lawrence has got to stop crashing inside all the time. Fields made him look stupid 4 or 5 times. But it wasn't just Fields running outside him, they ran a couple of other plays for good yardage after he made too much of a commitment to the inside. I like him being aggressive but he has to trust the inside guys to do their jobs while he secures the edge. I really wish he would watch film of Demarcus Ware.
We've talked a lot about LVE so I am not going to comment other than I am scratching my head.
The Cowboys missed Hooker. They missed Kearse when he was out too. Mukuamu looked slow chasing down Khalil Herbert. Hooker has been so steady in both passing defense and run defense.
The Cowboys got some breaks too but overall I think the breaks Chicago got hurt Dallas more.
Dak has one of the best days I have seen him play in a while. it was good to see.
