49ers to play Cowboys in Wild Card round of NFL playoffs

With the 49ers’ thrilling overtime win over the Rams in Week 18, they’ll travel to take on the Cowboys in the Wild Card round, sparking an old rivalry.

It’s time to brush off that old postseason rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys.

The second slate of Week 18 games were wrapping up as the Niners were on their way to pulling off a thrilling 27-24 overtime win against the Los Angeles Rams, which had to be done since San Francisco didn’t get any help from the Atlanta Falcons, who were blown out by the team that could have stolen the 49ers’ grasp on a Wild Card berth, the New Orleans Saints.

Even head coach Kyle Shanahan, speaking to reporters after the extra-frame win, said he wasn’t paying any attention to whichever team his squad would face next week.

All that mattered was getting the Niners into the postseason dance.

And now, it’ll be against the winners of the NFC East, the 12-5 Cowboys, who sit at the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoff picture.

49ers history vs. Cowboys, regular season and postseason

It’s almost fitting San Francisco will rekindle one of the NFL’s most historic rivalries, especially when the postseason is involved.

All those 49ers playoff games against Dallas during the 1970s, followed by the most memorable instant in Niners history during the 1982 NFC Championship game. Then again, that rivalry was pushed hard during the 1990s.

Related Story: Ranking 49ers’ 5 biggest rivalries of all time

All-time, San Francisco and Dallas have a 17-17-1 head-to-head record.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, the Cowboys hold a 5-2 postseason record. That’s something the Niners would want to reverse a trend on, and they’ll get that shot in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.

To do so, the Niners will have to deal with a Cowboys defense that entered Week 18 with the league’s No. 1 offense, both in terms of scoring and yards gained. Quarterback Dak Prescott has been excellent, while Dallas’ defense has done a complete 180 after the disaster that was 2020.

Time to brush off all those old San Francisco-Dallas rivalry smacktalk. It’s back, happily so.