After the rivalry went dormant for more than a quarter-century as the proud franchises rarely enjoyed success at the same time, it is having a rebirth with San Francisco set to take on Dallas for the second straight postseason when they meet Sunday in the divisional round.
"That’s how rivalries happen," Shanahan said Wednesday. "You guys knew it from the ’80s when it started out. I remember so much from my childhood from sixth grade to ninth grade, because I was here ‘92 to ’94, so it was the biggest rivalry in football to me growing up. Then usually that goes away when you don’t meet in the playoffs a bunch and we had a big game last year, we have a big game this year, so the more you do that, the bigger it gets again.
The series took a long playoff break before resuming in the wild-card round last year when the 49ers held off the Cowboys 23-17. The game ended in dramatic fashion with Dak Prescott scrambling to the San Francisco 24 in the closing seconds. The next meeting in the divisional round at Candlestick Park helped Staubach earn the moniker of "Captain Comeback."
But Dwight Clark leaped over Everson Walls in the back of the end zone and came down with "The Catch" to give San Francisco a 28-27 lead. That helped lead to the Cowboys making it to the 1992 NFC title game in San Francisco against a stacked Niners team led by Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
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