SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — For Kyle Shanahan, the opportunity to coach the San Francisco 49ers against the Dallas Cowboys in a playoff game is a throwback to when this rivalry was the biggest in football.
Shanahan’s formative years were spent watching his father, Mike, as offensive coordinator in San Francisco, battle the Cowboys in three NFC title games in a row.
After lying dormant for more than a quarter of a century as proud franchises rarely succeeded at the same time, the rivalry is resurgent, with San Francisco set to take on Dallas for the second straight postseason when they meet Sunday in the divisional round. .
“That’s how the rivalry goes,” Shanahan said on Wednesday. “Guys, you’ve known this since the 80s when it started. I remember so much from my sixth to ninth grade childhood because I was here from 92 to 94 so it was the biggest football rivalry for me growing up. Then it usually goes away when you don’t meet in the playoffs and we had a big game last year, we have a big game this year, so the more you do it, the bigger it gets again.”
This will be the ninth time these franchises have met in the postseason, and it will be the most games in the Super Bowl era: San Francisco vs. Green Bay and Dallas vs. Rams.
But with six of the previous games to come in the conference title game, few opponents have had as many big games or star players as Roger Staubach, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin. .
The 49ers-Cowboys playoff history is rich, from back-to-back conference title games in the early 1970s to the iconic “Catch” in the 1981 season, and then a bitter rivalry in the 1990s when the Cowboys won the first two games on their way to the titles. Super Bowl and then the Niners took Game 3.
“None of us were anywhere near that,” Niners defenseman Kyle Yuschik said. “So the rivalry is really something we’ve done lately. We played them last year in the playoffs. I think it’s more of our fuel than other games.”
The streak went on an extended playoff hiatus before resuming in the wild-card round last year when the 49ers held the Cowboys 23-17. The game ended in dramatic fashion, with Dak Prescott breaking out on San Francisco 24 in the final seconds.
Dallas struggled to get to the line and waited for the umpires to set up the ball. Prescott then hit the ball in hopes of getting another playoff, but time was up.
Here’s a look at the history of playoff rivalry.
TEAM AMERICA
The teams converged in the first three years after the merger with the Cowboys, who defeated the Niners in the NFC title game in 1970 and 1971, and again the next year to help them gain “Team America” status.
In the opener at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, Dallas used a rush for 143 yards, a TD from Dwayne Thomas, and two interceptions from John Brodie to win 17–10.
The following year, the Dallas defense dominated again, throwing three more interceptions for Brody in a 14–3 win that led the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl title.
The next divisional round meeting at Candlestick Park helped earn Staubach the nickname “Captain Comeback”.
Staubach came into play in the fourth quarter as Dallas lost 28–13 to lead the team to three scoring races. He threw a 20-yard TD pass to Billy Parks with 1:20 left to cut the deficit to 28-23. After a successful side kick, the Cowboys won it with a 10-yard TD pass from Staubach to Ron Sellers with 52 seconds left.
CATCH
The nines fell after this three-year run but retaliated by returning late in the game to start a dynasty in the 1981 NFC Championship game.
San Francisco ranked in their 11th at 4:54 to play back 27-21 as Montana took over. He parsed Dallas’ Doomsday Defense with a typical West Coast attack.
The Niners then faced third and fourth at the Dallas 6 less than a minute before the game when Bill Walsh called the “Proper Sprint Option”. Montana rolled to the right and could not immediately find an open receiver. Then, as Ed “Too Tall” Jones and the Dallas defense closed in, Montana threw a high pass that appeared to be heading out of the end zone.
But Dwight Clark vaulted the Everson walls at the back of the end zone and came down with The Trick to give San Francisco a 28-27 lead.
The victory was sealed when Danny White lost a fumble and two weeks later San Francisco won their first of five Super Bowl titles in 14 years.
“The start of a dynasty,” said former 49ers president Carmen Polis. “I don’t allow myself to go down the path of what would have happened if he hadn’t made that catch.”
HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS
Although this win began a dynasty of Nines, it was the start of Dallas’ decline under coach Tom Landry. The Cowboys hit rock bottom with one win in Jimmie Johnson’s first year in 1989 before starting a steady rise.
This helped the Cowboys advance to the 1992 NFC title game in San Francisco against a stacked Niners team led by Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
But the young Cowboys didn’t flinch, picking up two touchdowns from Smith to build a 24-20 lead, and then Aikman helped secure it with a 70-yard pass to Alvin Harper to set up another touchdown.
The rematch the following season was not as tight, with the Cowboys leading 28–7 at halftime en route to a 38–21 win after Johnson had guaranteed the win earlier in the week. Johnson highlighted both victories with his “What About the Cowboys!” proclamation in the winning locker room.
“I’ve been talking all week,” Johnson told his team. “If you’re going to talk about conversations, you have to walk. Thanks to you guys, you made it through.”
YOUNG’S BREAKTHROUGH
After those two losses raised questions about whether Young could ever win a “major tournament”, the following year’s game helped establish him as one of the greats.
Eric Davies started the game with a six on first possession. Two more losses helped San Francisco take a 21-0 lead with less than five minutes left in the game.
“Finding they were 21 points ahead was like spotting Carl Lewis for 20 yards in a 100-yard dash,” Smith said.
Young did the rest with two TD assists and a TD run, and won the Super Bowl MVP two weeks later.
“Responding to that pressure is one of the best feelings in the sport,” he said after defeating Dallas.
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AP Pro Football writer Schuyler Dixon contributed to this report.
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