Published Dec. 6, 2019 on Sports Illustrated
CHICAGO—Jaylon Smith stood with his back to the field, gesturing aggressively toward Michael Bennett. Bennett, who has been a Cowboy for only a little over a month, took the blue Microsoft Surface in his hands and threw it on the ground in front of the Cowboys bench.
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky had just scored a rushing touchdown, breaking the pocket and making a cut to avoid a Cowboys tackle on his way to the end zone to put Chicago up 31-14 in the fourth quarter of its eventual 31-24 win.
Later in that quarter, veteran tight end Jason Witten paced in a tight circle and shouted at fellow tight ends, Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz. The offense had just turned it over on downs, and Dallas was headed for its third straight loss, the fourth in their last five games.
The biggest question of the game is not the specifics of what Smith and Bennett or Witten and the tight ends were arguing about on the sideline (“It’s confidential,” Smith says, “Nobody is MF-ing each other,” Schultz says.)
The question of the game is, did this Bears team deliver the final blow to Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett?