The Dallas Cowboys conducted kicker workouts over the weekend after Brett Maher's Thanksgiving blunders but decided to ride with him Thursday night.
Perhaps that was a mistake.
In Thursday night's 31-24 loss to the Chicago Bears, Maher badly botched anther field goal -- his fourth in three games -- in the second quarter that could have pulled the score to 10-10. Instead, the boot bailed right, and the Cowboys got down 24-7 before they could put points on the board again.
The next time the Cowboys did score to pull within 10 points, Maher followed up the Ezekiel Elliott touchdown by hitting the kickoff out of bounds, giving the Bears the ball at the 40-yard-line, helping set up another Chicago TD that would essentially ice the game.
He did make a chip-shot field goal to get Dallas within seven points with eight seconds left, but it was far too little far too late.
After the loss, however, Maher wasn't disappointed with his play.
"I felt like I did a good job staying in my lane this week," he said, via the team's official website. "I felt like I hit every ball pretty well tonight. I'll put my head on the pillow tonight feeling good about what I did this week and moving forward."
The question is whether he'll be moving forward in a Cowboys jersey. The pitchforks are out for Maher in Dallas, and he could be the first to lose his job after the latest putrid performance by Jason Garrett's squad.
"Obviously, you have to make the kick," Garrett said of Maher's missed field goal. "We've had that instance the last couple weeks where you drive the ball and you are going to get yourself in a position to be competitive in the game and we were not able to cash in on the drive with a field goal."
Garrett said on the kickoff out of bounds, the Cowboys were trying to keep the ball away from returner Cordarrelle Patterson and Maher "missed it a little bit."
Maher has missed a lot a bit this season. According to NFL Research, Maher's 10 misses this season are more than any kicker in a single season in the last four years. We still have three games to go.
Maher has missed one-third of his 30 field goal attempts, and while he's shown a big leg with a 63-yarder this season, his inconsistency in the midrange is cut-worthy.
The entire special teams operation in Dallas has been atrocious this season, with Maher the character most in the crosshairs. The question is whether Jerry Jones will make a move at kicker or continue to ride a Maher roller coaster that continues to plummet.
