The rivalry is officially back: After playoff meetings the past two seasons and fast starts in 2023, the Week 5 Cowboys-49ers matchup is must-see once again.
Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years at ESPN.
Dallas came storming back in the 1990s, knocking off the Niners in the NFC Championship Game after the 1992 and 1993 seasons on its way to two Super Bowl titles. San Francisco finally got past Dallas the next season in the NFC Championship Game on its way to its fifth Lombardi Trophy. The Cowboys would bounce back to win their fifth championship the following year.The teams did not meet again in the postseason until a wild-card game on Jan. 16, 2022, a span of 9,863 days.
Sunday's matchup will feature many familiar faces from their past two meetings. Besides the head coaches, star players such as linebackerMost of those players were not born or were infants and toddlers for those 1990s playoff meetings, but the history of the rivalry has been ingrained and reinforced by the atmosphere surrounding the past two playoff matchups.
What's more, neither team has played a particularly daunting schedule to date. Dallas' opponents are 3-9 and San Francisco's 6-6 in games.
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