Another defeat at home on Monday evening further derailed the Dallas Cowboys’ already spiraling season.

But with the playoffs all but mathematically out of reach, owner and general manager Jerry Jones isn’t ready to find out what the Cowboys have in backup quarterback Trey Lance.

Jones was asked about the Cowboys’ quarterback situation during his weekly radio appearance Tuesday morning. He isn’t ready to take the place of Cooper Rush, who has started in place of injured starter Dak Prescott the past two weeks.

Here’s what Jones said when asked if it’s time to move on to Lance at quarterback.

Rush improved, but Cowboys did not

Rush showed marked improvement in Monday’s loss to the Houston Texans from his first start of the season a week earlier. Against the Texans, Rush completed 32 of 55 passes (58.2%) for 354 yards (6.4 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and one interception. The Cowboys generated 388 yards of total offense.

In Week 10 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Rush completed 13 of 23 passes (56.5%) for 45 yards (2 yards per attempt) with no touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Cowboys generated 146 total yards of offense in that game, Rush’s first start of the season.

But the end results of each game were virtually identical. The Cowboys lost to the Eagles 34-6. On Monday they lost 34-10 to the Texans. Both losses came in Dallas, where the Cowboys are now 0-5 on the season.

The Cowboys are now 3-7 overall with no reasonable chance of rallying to make the playoffs. They can’t run and they can’t stop the run, and that won’t magically change over the final seven games of the season. So why not see what they have in Lance?

Will Trey Lance ever start for the Cowboys?

Rush, a seventh-year veteran, is a known commodity. He’s a career backup. Lance, meanwhile, was the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft. Circumstances, including injuries, limited him to just eight starts with the 49ers team that drafted him.

But the 49ers saw enough behind the scenes to cut their significant losses and trade Lance to the Cowboys in 2023. The reported practice fight that plagued Lance in San Francisco has been carried over to the Cowboys. He couldn’t replace Rush as QB2 in training camp.

So did the Cowboys misjudge Lance when they sent the 49ers a fourth-round pick to acquire him?

So if Lance has improved dramatically, why not give it a try as a starter? There’s really nothing left to lose this season. Or is Jones just not ready to accept the reality that a season that started with Super Bowl hopes is lost?

If the Cowboys aren’t ready to give Lance a look yet, will they ever be? Would being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs lead to a change? For Jones, that remains a question for later.