FRISCO, Texas – Coming off their third straight loss and already being eliminated from the playoffs, Brian Schottenheimer and the Cowboys are not changing their approach to the final two games of the season.
"Right now, our focus is on playing the Commanders…" Schottenheimer said. "At the end of the day, we're playing to win. That's not just my philosophy, that's what these guys want to do. They want to play, if you listen to our guys, they want to play, they want to play well, they love one another, they care about one another. For me, that's really cool."
In his first year as a head coach, Schottenheimer has juggled plenty both on and off the field. Even with the year closing out in a way that isn't up to the team's standard, Schottenheimer believes his group still has things to play for as well as momentum to be gained heading into 2026.
"We're in year one. We've done some things that we're proud of this year. Certainly not the success in the win-loss column, that's very evident, we're disappointed about that," Schottenheimer said. "But again, I'm fueled by the fact that we get to play an NFC East opponent this week and then next week, and we want to win to sustain some success. We have a chance to go potentially 5-1 in the division."
"This is the NFC East, and so that's something that motivates us. At the end of the day, when we look at this season, there's going to be good things, there's going to be bad things, but we're playing to win. Our players are all about that, that's the culture we're trying to build."
Around the league, each team is different in terms of how they want to manage who plays and who doesn't in the final few weeks of the season. As far as the Cowboys go, Schottenheimer sees his players still itching to get on the field.
"We play a physical game, everybody understands that. These guys, when they go out, they don't think that way. They play. That's what they've been taught to do since they were 5 years old. You just go and you play." Schottenheimer said.
"I'm not asking their opinion. We're playing to win. But I guarantee you if I took a poll of guys in that locker room that wanted to play, every hand would shoot up for all the reasons that I've said. They love one another. They know we're building something special here. Quite honestly, we'd love to not have a losing record, and then potentially go 5-1 in the division."
With that in mind, the thought of worst-case scenarios has crossed through Schottenheimer's mind in the decision process, and the Cowboys will be wise with how/when veteran players like Dak Prescott are on the field.
"It's definitely an option, but we want to finish strong," Schottenheimer said when asked about the if he'd thought about not having Prescott play. "We want to build on that momentum. Dak's playing great. You saw what we decided to do yesterday when the game got out of hand. We're not going to be cavalier with this thing."
Over the offseason, a major point of emphasis for Schottenheimer was his culture. Despite Dallas' record, he believes that his team is built the right way, and now needs to make the proper adjustments in order for the culture to help translate to more wins.
"It says we're not playing good enough football, it's saying I'm not coaching good enough football. I don't think it's got anything to do with the culture," Schottenheimer said when asked what the team's record says about their culture.
"The fact that these guys are still playing hard, the fact that these guys are still going out there and practicing the way that they are, if you didn't have culture, I'd be more concerned… That tells you we've built this locker room the right way. We've built this locker room to sustain, we just got to get some things fixed."
Their next chance to get things fixed will come on Christmas Day this Thursday, as the Cowboys prepare for their fourth and final Thursday night game, the most an NFL team has ever played in a single season. Schottenheimer admitted that his team was banged up, but looking forward to the opportunity.
"These guys are not ready to run, they're hurting right now," Schottenheimer said. "Watch the film three or four times, and we played physical yesterday. We did. We didn't play great in a lot of areas, but we did play physically, so our guys are sore and they're banged up. We'll get them back, but it's pretty cool to play in front of the world on Christmas Day."
