Schottenheimer cost his team the chance to win the game against the Ravens, and he's publicly acknowledged it.
What does Brian Schottenheimer have going for him, most of all?
It's not his record this year as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys; he's 1-2.
It's not his record overall at The Star; now in his second season, he's 8-10-1.
And it's not his record as a head coach before he got here because ... well, you know, he'd never been a head coach before he got here.
So ... I'm left with ...
"Authenticity.''
That's his favorite self-analyzing word when it comes to describing what makes him tick.
And right now, that word better work.
"Schotty'' has been under heavy fire for how he and his staff handled the final moments of the 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Rio in NFL Week 3 on Sunday.
The blowback has been harsh, with some critics calling for Schottenheimer to be fired. That's not a real-world take.
But he's left the impression that in a sense, the Cowboys were playing for the tie in the late-going, not playing to win.
And he's left the impression that in the final, fateful 23 seconds or so, he allowed himself to get overwhelmed.
The result: Schottenheimer has apologized privately to his locker room ... and he's taking the blame for it all publicly as well.
"I'll take responsibility for this,'' he said on Tuesday from the podium inside The Star. "I'm a grown man. I can handle it. Do I deserve the criticism? Absolutely. I deserve the criticism. I take the criticism.''
By now, the football world knows all of what he's talking about. Dallas down 3, at the Ravens' 2-yard line with 23 seconds, four downs and a timeout available.
And they blew it ... followed up by the insane decision to kick the ball through the end zone, allowing Lamar Jackson seven seconds to set up the Ravens - against man coverage by Dallas' wounded secondary - for the game-winning field goal.
Looking back over those last 20-odd seconds, Schottenheimer took full accountability for what transpired.
“Well, I didn't do very good in the last 28 seconds,” Schottenheimer said. “When you talk about finishing the game, our two games that we've lost, we haven't finished, and I was a big part of this one.
“I felt like I overcoached Dak on third down, affected his decision-making a little bit (on a too-careful air-mail throw that might've been a George Pickens TD), and I let that kind of bleed over to my decision about kicking the ball. My dad (legendary coach Marty Schottenheimer) had a rule, one play at a time. He talked a lot about it, happened to him. He made a decision, on a play, it didn't go good.
"He was pissed off about it, and it affected another decision, that's kind of what happened to me.''
To me, the "Dad'' stories don't really fly here; that's just another way of saying, "It happens to everybody.''
Schotty is best-off admitting, as he did, "I hurt our chance to win that game.''
And from there? In the wake of his locker-room apology and his pledge - "I'll be better, and I'm better than that'' - he needs his team to believe him.
Because ... is he? Is he "better'' than he's shown he is over the course of mounting a record of 8-10-1?
Schottenheimer let his emotions control him after that third-down pass? That's not great from a head coach. In fact, it's really poor.
And now, in two of Dallas' three games, he has come to the podium and stated that he personally underperformed.
Forget, for a moment, what fans and media want, or whether a public "mea culpa'' matters.
Focus back on that locker room.
Dak Prescott is upset at Schottenheimer's "over-coaching'' on the incompletion. There's mass confusion about the kickoff decision. This defense is lost.
Quit "coaching scared,'' Coach.
Quit "coaching emotionally,'' Coach.
Quit "coaching dumb,'' Coach.
You employee a Pro Bowl quarterback, two elite receivers, a good running back, and a stout-ish offensive line. That's GOTI. Have faith that they can get you the win.
Use your "authenticity'' - the trait that drove you to apologize, the trait that drives your very persona - to motivate your team to believe what you are saying now..
"You know what it's going to do?'' he said of the Brazilian bone-headedness? "It's going to fire me up. It ain't gonna happen again."
I'm not sure I believe that. I doubt you do. But the real question is, "Do his Cowboys players believe it?''
