ARLINGTON, Texas – Although his tenure as owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys included winning three Super Bowls in the 1990s, Jerry Jones also had his downtime.

“We won one game our first year,” Jones said after the Cowboys’ 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Monday night, which dropped Dallas to 3-7 on the season. “First. And have we had tough seasons as well? Yes. Yeah, I’ve been there. Certainly, we have. And we’ve had other tough years. And this one, we didn’t have not expected the record. And the way we If you’re playing right now, we wouldn’t have expected this But no, we didn’t – you’ve all heard me tell those old stories until now. that you are sick – but no, you stay in this long league. enough, you will have moments like this.

The 1989 Cowboys, however, were not considered one of the best teams in the NFC entering that season. Neither were the teams that finished 5-11 three straight years in 2000-02. In 2010, Jones made the only coaching change during the season, replacing Wade Phillips with Jason Garrett after a 1-7 start. In 2015, the Cowboys finished 4-12.

At 3-7, the Cowboys should be a top-10 pick in next year’s draft. With Mike McCarthy in the final year of his contract, there could be a new coaching staff in 2025, but Jones says he thinks the players still believe in McCarthy.

“It’s such a stretch to lose pieces of the team,” Jones said. “These guys, first of all, they’re natural competitors. Secondly, they take so much pride in the fact that they’re professional and disappointed maybe in the way they executed the play, but that’s not not something that falls to the brother or the first cousin to give up… Everyone is certainly disappointed, but it’s a big difference to not know that you have to put one foot in front of the other to go.

For the first time since 1989, the Cowboys lost their first five home games of the season. They were outscored by 118 points, the third-highest total in five home games in the Super Bowl era.

The five-game losing streak is the longest since the Cowboys lost seven in a row in 2015. It is the longest losing streak McCarthy has had as a coach. In 2008, the Green Bay Packers lost five straight games before finishing 6-10.

“Explain it? I think it’s very frustrating. It’s frustrating for everyone. Frustrating for the players, frustrating for the coaches. I know it’s disappointing for the fans,” McCarthy said. “But we just have a lot of moving parts in play, and we just need to be cleaner and more detailed in certain spots. We’re not playing well enough, we’re not executing well enough, we’re not coaching well enough to overcome some of the mistakes we make in critical moments of the game.”

During their first practice Monday, the Cowboys attempted their second fake punt in their last three games and Bryan Angerpasses to Juanyeh Thomas fell 5 yards short of gaining a first down.

“They won the chess match there,” McCarthy said. “It was a bad decision on our part.”

Trailing 20-10 in the third quarter, McCarthy made a short field goal attempt Brandon Aubrey go for a fourth and a second at the Houston 8, and Cooper RushThe pass fell incomplete.

“You can’t have it both ways,” McCarthy said. “We’re trying to play exactly the right way, managing the game, in 14 games. … We needed seven (points) there.”

The next time the Cowboys had the ball, Rush fumbled on a sack from the rookie left tackle. Tyler Guyton recovered but then fumbled. Texans defensive end Derek Barnettwho sacked Rush, scooped up the loose ball and ran 28 yards for the score.

“We don’t teach (offensive) linemen to carry the ball,” McCarthy said. “That’s twice now. It’s obviously an important play in the game. We have to come down on the ball.”

Guyton injured his shoulder during the game and did not return. Two series later, the Cowboys lose right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith to the ankle and neither came back. In the first half, tight end Jake Ferguson was forced to abandon the match due to a concussion.

Strategist Dak Prescottwho was placed on injured reserve Monday after hamstring surgery last week, watched the game from the trainer’s box.

“I think in times of adversity, affirmation comes from what you know from your past experiences, but also trust in the people in the room, the people doing the work. And that’s what I do,” McCarthy said. “I believe in this locker room. Our leaders, for the most part, have been hurt. There’s some good coming out of it. You don’t see it because we’re not winning games, but there are young men who have the opportunity to do more. And I believe it will pay off because we need it in six days. But that’s just the reality of what we’re going through, I believe, not just because of this. that they do for the organization but for. the energy and the effort they give me we have every reason to believe that we can play better.

The Cowboys play the Washington Commanders next week, followed by a Thanksgiving matchup against the New York Giants.

The Cowboys currently only have one game left against a team with a worse record than theirs (the Giants).

“That’s it, man,” McCarthy said. “We have seven losses. We have to go. Back to the wall. I have to fight, claw, scratch. I have to do everything we can to win the next game. That’s where I think. That’s the the way we coach and it’s the We have to win. We deserve the opportunity to win and it’s about putting the best on the field. These guys are getting a lot of experience.

“But we have to do whatever it takes to win.”