3 Cowboys to blame after losing to the 49ers yet again

The Dallas Cowboys have had more trouble with the San Francisco 49ers, more than just about any other team in recent years, but it felt as if this was a prime opportunity to both get some revenge against San Francisco on Sunday Night Football and help steer their season in the right direction.

The Cowboys had lost each of their last three meetings against the 49ers entering Sunday's action, with their last win coming back in 2020. One of those losses included falling in the NFC Divisional Round in 2021, and another one came in the form of a 42-10 bludgeoning that came last season. Unfortunately, the Cowboys could not get the revenge that they wanted, nor could they turn their season around.

With Sunday's 30-24 loss, the Cowboys are now 3-4 on the season, sitting all alone in third place in the NFC East. Their season isn't over by any means, but their path to the playoffs becomes increasingly difficult with every loss.

These three individuals are most responsible for yet another disheartening loss at the hands of their NFC rivals.

3 Cowboys to blame after suffering yet another loss to the 49ers

3) Mike Zimmer's defense didn't get the job done against a depleted 49ers offense

The Cowboys lost Dan Quinn, who accepted the head coaching job for the Washington Commanders, leaving their defensive coordinator position open. Dallas chose to hire Mike Zimmer, which has been an interesting decision thus far, to say the least.

The Cowboys entered Sunday's action ranked tied for 31st in the NFL, allowing 28.0 points per game. Last season, they allowed the fifth-fewest points per game - quite the contrast. Their defense has dealt with injuries, but there's no excuse for this.

The Cowboys had a chance to beat a short-handed 49ers team that had underwhelmed to start the season, but failed to do that. The Niners were without Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, and Jauan Jennings in this game, had Deebo Samuel not quite at 100 percent, and even saw Jordan Mason leave the game early due to injury. Despite that, the Cowboys still surrendered 30 points. Just unacceptable.

2) Jerry Jones' roster just isn't good enough to be viewed as a serious contender

The Cowboys might not have a Super Bowl win in decades, but they do, at the very least, remain competitive just about every year. They have a streak of three straight 12-win seasons as of this writing, and have been one of the best teams in the NFC in that stretch.

Expectations for this Cowboys team ahead of the 2024 campaign was, as it always is, to win the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, owner and general manager Jerry Jones did very little this offseason to prove that he's serious about winning right now, and the results are showing.

The Cowboys' defense is a mess. Their running back room is a mess. With Brandin Cooks out, they don't have a real WR2 to take any sort of pressure off of CeeDee Lamb. Mike McCarthy has proven time and time again that he isn't good enough as the head coach.

Expectations might be high, but this team is not good enough. They're 3-4, and for the most part, have looked like the sub-.500 football team that they are. There's enough talent here for Dallas to squeak into the playoffs, but this isn't going to be the year for them to get over the hump. If they couldn't beat this version of the Niners, when will they ever beat them? When will they ever win the big games that Super Bowl teams win?

1) Dak Prescott's continues to come up short in big games

One of the few moves Jerry Jones made before the regular season was signing Dak Prescott to a four-year extension worth $240 million. That deal guaranteed him $231 million - the largest guarantee in NFL history. The expectations of that deal were quite clear. The Cowboys expected Prescott to play like one of, if not the best quarterbacks in the NFL, especially in games like this against the 49ers on Sunday Night Football. So far this season, Prescott has struggled, and that was the case again in this game.

The 31-year-old completed 25 of his 38 passing attempts for 223 yards on the night. That isn't awful, but he only threw one touchdown pass and had a pair of interceptions. Had Fred Warner not dropped an easy one in what wound up being Dallas' final drive of the game, Prescott would've had three picks. This is a quarterback who entered the night with six interceptions in six games, by the way, after throwing only nine in all of 2023.

Prescott's numbers are down across the board this season, and his performance on Sunday didn't exactly add to that. The circumstances aren't the best, with no real running game and virtually only CeeDee Lamb to throw to, but still, elite quarterbacks make the most of bad situations. Brock Purdy outplayed him despite all that San Francisco is dealing with.

Prescott hasn't had much playoff success at all, and based on how he's played this season (and on Sunday), the Cowboys won't even get there this season. The only way they will is if Prescott can figure things out very quickly.