Brian Schottenheimer didn’t dress it up after the Dallas Cowboys’ 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. “We’re in a hole,” the Cowboys coach said after the loss at Lambeau Field dropped Dallas to 2-4.

It was Dallas’ second straight loss. It came after a 10-day break that the team spent trying to fix what went wrong against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Schottenheimer said the Cowboys put themselves in this spot, and he told his players they have to stop repeating mistakes. His message drew pointed replies, from questions about his play calling to calls for the staff to go.

Brian Schottenheimer Says the Cowboys Dug Their Own Hole

Dallas fell behind early. Green Bay led 17-0 at halftime. It was the first time Dallas had been held scoreless in a first half since a Nov. 7, 2021, game against the Denver Broncos, and Sunday’s scoreless half snapped an 86-game streak that NBC Sports said was the fourth longest in NFL history.

Dallas came in averaging 27.6 points per game, seventh in the NFL, and its first touchdown came on Javonte Williams’ 1-yard run in the third quarter. Its second touchdown, Ryan Flournoy’s 6-yard catch, came with 44 seconds left, and the two-point try failed.

Dak Prescott completed 34 of 54 passes for 258 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Dallas ran for 48 yards on 15 carries, was flagged 11 times for 108 yards and let the Packers convert 11 of 18 third downs.

Schottenheimer said the effort and the fight were there but the errors kept coming, and he listed them: “Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about. We’ve got to protect the football. Five turnovers in two games, not very good.” Dallas turned the ball over three times in the 24-16 home loss to Tampa Bay on Oct. 8, then twice more in Green Bay.

Jon Machota, The Athletic’s Cowboys reporter, posted more of the coach’s remarks. In the post, Schottenheimer said there’s only one way out of the hole and that his players understand that. He added that there’s still time to pull out of it, as long as Dallas fixes the mistakes the team has already talked about.

One fan pushed back: “It’s been 6 weeks. Almost 1/2 way through the season. When do we start learning from mistakes?”

Some of the same problems showed up in both losses. Prescott’s passer rating was under 70 for the second straight game, 69.1 against the Buccaneers and 65.2 on Sunday. The ground game hasn’t come around either, with Dallas running for just 50 yards against Tampa Bay.

Another fan replied, “He literally makes the same mistakes over and over.”

William Spencer III, a fantasy football analyst, said Schottenheimer has to start calling games better, with a bigger role for George Pickens: “More aggressiveness and Pickens NEEDS to be involved from the door. His route tree is up there. If Dak throws 40x, Pickens needs at least 12.”

By that math, Pickens came up one target short Sunday. He caught six passes for a team-high 73 yards on 11 targets, while CeeDee Lamb drew 18. Pickens met the mark against Tampa Bay with 13 targets on Prescott’s 42 attempts.

In the 34-30 win over the Houston Texans on Oct. 4, he got three targets on 45 attempts. Through Week 6, Pickens has 33 catches, tied for 10th in the NFL, and 428 yards, 11th in the NFL. Schottenheimer said throwing 54 times wasn’t the plan against a defense he described as stronger against the pass than the run.

Another fan asked, “How does he fix his poor play calling, game management, and lack of daring?” Dallas went for it on fourth down four times Sunday and converted two. The misses came on fourth-and-2 at midfield and fourth-and-11 at the Green Bay 14. Schottenheimer said he’s open to shaking things up, though he won’t change who he is or how he looks at the game.

Two other fans aimed higher. One wrote, “This staff has lost the locker room. Clean house, players included.” Prescott saw it differently after the game, saying “we’ve got to fix it, and all the guys in that locker room are capable of it.”

Another fan took aim at the top of the organization too: “He needs fired and his staff! Jerry needs to hire a Real GM!” Schottenheimer put the responsibility on himself and his coaches, saying “we haven’t been very good in the last two games, so that’s what we’re responsible and accountable for. And I stand up here and accept that.”

The changes Dallas has made so far haven’t stopped the slide. Schottenheimer said there would be changes after the Tampa Bay loss.

During the break, the team brought Mike Pettine out of retirement as a senior assistant to defensive coordinator Christian Parker, and the players held a players-only meeting. Schottenheimer said there were personnel changes for Sunday’s game as well.

The Cowboys are second in the NFC East. They play the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday, Oct. 26, at 8:15 p.m. ET.