National Football League

Cowboys ride Murray, stomp Bears — is December curse finally over?

Published Dec. 4, 2014 11:35 p.m. ET

Ross Jones

Five-hundred football in Dallas is a thing of the past.

With Thursday night's 41-28 win against the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys have eclipsed the 8-win mark for the first time since 2009.

The Cowboys (9-4) have remained adamant this season is different. But after three years of mediocrity — Dallas was 8-8 in 2011, '12 and '13 after going 6-10 in 2010 — convincing everyone else isn't as easy.

Winning Thursday will make some believers, but none of that matters if the Cowboys can't carry over the momentum through the next three weeks.

More proof this season is different? Along with 10 days to prepare for their Week 15 trip to Philadelphia, the Cowboys find confidence in this statistic: They're 6-0 this season away from AT&T Stadium. Road warriors, if you will.

With the Eagles (a half-game ahead of the Cowboys at 9-3) hosting the Seattle Seahawks this weekend, Dallas is certainly the beneficiary of some added prep time.

But December is typically when this team shrinks. From 2011 to 2013, the Cowboys were 5-8 in the final month. Plenty of reasons for bottoming out were offered and debated: Change in the weather, increased pressures of playoff-like games, simply wilting in crunch time. This season, so far, looks to be on a different trajectory.

A week after losing their share of the NFC East lead on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys got back to basics in Chicago.

Ground and pound

Priority No. 1 this season has been — and was once again on Thursday — riding running back DeMarco Murray. In fact, Murray had a touch on 24 of the Cowboys' 37 first-half plays, en route to 41 touches for the game, second-most in team history. And Murray's big game has him within striking distance of 2,000 rushing yards, and staring down an even more hallowed Cowboys record (more on that later).

Logging his 11th 100-yard game on the ground this season, Murray brings the consistency needed for the Cowboys to convert on short-yardage situations and own the time of possession. Some have wondered how long Murray can hold up. With his low pad level and ability to slash sideways, he's able to avoid taking big hits.

Two if by air

When he wasn't handing the ball off to Murray, Tony Romo was doing his own damage to a defense that has now allowed a league-worst 378 points. The Dallas quarterback made easy completions Thursday and appeared agile in the pocket. Shaking off a woeful Thanksgiving performance, Romo completed better than 80 percent of his passes for 205 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 138.0 passer rating.

After punting on their first two drives, the Cowboys scored on each of their final seven drives until taking a knee to end the game. That consistency allowed Dallas to jump out to a 35-7 halftime lead, and then hold off a late garbage-time comeback from the Bears. In a must-win, should-win situation, Dallas handled business and will finally finish over that elusive .500 mark.

For the record

• Murray, who finished Thursday with 32 carries for 179 yards and a touchdown, tied Emmitt Smith's franchise record for 100-yard games in a season. And with 1,606 rushing yards this season, Murray is within striking distance of Smith's franchise record for rushing yards in a season (1,773). Smith's record, which has stood since 1995, can be toppled if Murray averages just 56 yards in each of the three remaining games (of course, if Murray runs for another 179 yards against the Eagles, he'll have the record with two games to spare). Murray's 1,606 yards are almost 600 more than anyone else in the league (Le'Veon Bell is second at 1,046).

• Martellus Bennett now has 77 receptions on the season, breaking Mike Ditka's Bears' record for most catches by a tight end in a single season.

• Dez Bryant is the only wide receiver in the league to have 1,000 yards in each of the past three seasons. Bryant finished with six receptions for 82 yards, but his highlight of the night was a stiff arm he delivered to rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller. After getting torched by Calvin Johnson on Thanksgiving, it has been a rough eight days for the Virginia Tech product.

Parting shots

• Brandon Marshall tweeted out that he was "good" after being taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but his injuries reportedly could be serious. Marshall writhed in pain after he took a knee to the ribs in the second quarter. Playing in his ninth season, Marshall walked off gingerly under his own power. Marshall was the third wide receiver to be taken to the hospital since Sunday — Miles Austin and Justin Hunter spent some time after sustaining significant injuries last week.

• Alshon Jeffery has scored at least one touchdown in each of the past four games, giving him five scores in the last four games after scoring just three times in the Bears' first nine contests. Jeffery, who made an impressive 27-yard touchdown reception, has 29 receptions for 323 yards and five touchdowns since Week 10 kicked off.

• Linebacker Bruce Carter, who was benched in base defense for Kyle Wilber, deflected a punt in the first quarter, leading to the Cowboys' first score.

• One of the Bears' lone bright spots on defense showed up again. Defensive end Willie Young had half a sack in the first quarter Thursday, giving him nine on the season.

• Fans Soldier Field fans cheered when Chris Conte got knocked out of the game, per Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times. Conte, though, will be having nightmares of Cowboys wide receiver Cole Beasley. Conte mistimed his jump and allowed Beasley to catch and reach in the second quarter for his second TD of the game.

• FOX Sports 1's NFL insider Jay Glazer spoke about Marc Trestman's job status on America's Pregame on Thursday. Surprisingly, the Bears haven't been completely eliminated from postseason contention . . . it's only a matter of time, though.