Tony Romo has a nightmare outing against Bears on Monday night
Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys offense really didn’t do much for most of the first half of their game against the Chicago Bears on Monday night. And they were better off that way.
Starting late in the second quarter, all but two of the Cowboys’ next seven drives ended in interceptions thrown by Romo, as the Cowboys lost, 34-18, and dropped to a three-way tie for second in the NFC East at 2-1.
The five picks tied a career high for the Dallas quarterback, who now has eight interceptions and five touchdowns this season.
To Romo’s credit, the other two drives in that stretch both ended in Cowboys scores, including a 10-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin late in the first half. Even so, the Bears defense outscored Romo, 14-10, with Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs each returning an interception for a touchdown.
Major Wright also had a big night, picking off a pair of Romo’s passes, and D.J. Moore had his third career interception off Romo.
Dallas was forced to punt in each of its first three possessions but still just trailed by three before Tillman returned the Bears’ first pick of the night 25 yards for a touchdown and 10-0 lead. Romo responded well with a touchdown drive for a 10-7 halftime score, but things unraveled from there.
Backup quarterback Kyle Orton took advantage of his first action as a Cowboy late in the game, completing nine of 10 passes for 89 yards on a drive that ended in a five-yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten and a pass to Dez Bryant for a successful two-point conversion.
So is there a quarterback controversy brewing in Dallas? Cowboys fans probably aren’t going to start showing up in No. 18 jerseys and chanting Orton’s name every time Romo makes the slightest mistake -- the same kind of treatment Orton got as Denver’s starter last season from the Tim Tebow-crazed Broncos fans -- just yet.
Nothing against Romo, but that would be sweet justice for Orton.
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