Cowboys fans needed 10 quarters to want Mike Zimmer sent to the unemployment line

The Dallas Cowboys had one of, if not the most underwhelming offseasons in the NFL. Cowboys fans had high expectations following an embarrassing loss in the Wild Card Round last season, but the team did very little in free agency and even took a loss on the coaching front.

Dan Quinn, the team's defensive coordinator, inked a deal to become the new head coach of the Washington Commanders. A lot of the attention in Dallas regarding their success is attributed to stars like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, and for good reason, but their defense has come up huge in recent years, allowing the Cowboys to have as much regular season success as they have,

Early returns under new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer were solid, as they held the Cleveland Browns to just 17 points in a dominant Week 1 win. Unfortunately, it's looking more like that Week 1 performance might've had more to do with the Browns than it did the Cowboys.

In Week 2, the Cowboys allowed the New Orleans Saints to come to Jerry World and drop a whopping 44 points in a blowout. A brutal start to their Week 3 game against the Baltimore Ravens had Cowboys fans fed up with Zimmer to the point where they wanted him gone already.

Cowboys fans want Mike Zimmer fired in record time following frustrating loss vs. Ravens

They had their share of playoff hiccups, but the Cowboys were as elite as any team in the NFL defensively the last couple of years. They ranked fifth in the NFL, allowing just 18.5 points per game last season. In 2022, they were also fifth in the NFL, giving up 20.1 points per game. In 2021, they ranked seventh in the NFL by giving up 21.1 points per game. In Quinn's three years in Dallas, they were seventh or better in points allowed, that's not too shabby.

In three weeks this season, Dallas already gave up 44 to the Saints and 21 in the first half to the Ravens. They only allowed seven second-half points, but Dallas still dropped to 1-2, falling in a 28-25 game.

The Cowboys did well against Lamar Jackson the passer, limiting him to just 12 completions and 182 passing yards, but the damage Baltimore did on the ground was impossible to ignore. Derrick Henry stole the show, rushing for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Jackson added 87 yards of his own on the ground.

Unfortunately, this doesn't come as a shocker to some Cowboys fans who never believed in Zimmer in the first place. They saw backup quarterback Cooper Rush throw for 325 yards and two touchdowns in a win on Halloween back in 2021. If Cooper Rush was able to do that, surely better teams and quarterbacks could find ways to dominate too.

It should be noted that it has only been three weeks and 12 quarters of regular season ball under Mike Zimmer, so things can get better as players get more accustomed to his system. However, there's also a chance that Zimmer's system just isn't going to work out in Dallas. A test against the lowly New York Giants awaits, and all Cowboys fans can do is hope that their defensive coordinator can figure something out to stop Malik Nabers and Co.