NFL playoffs: Do 49ers prefer Buccaneers or Cowboys in divisional round?

The 49ers await either the Cowboys or Buccaneers as their divisional-round opponent in the NFL playoffs, but which team do the Niners prefer to play?

Regardless of the outcome of the 2023 Wild Card game between the NFC South-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the visiting Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, the San Francisco 49ers won’t be without storylines for the eventual matchup against the winner of that game.

If it’s the Bucs, all the chatter about quarterback Tom Brady returning to the Bay Area (again) to face off against his boyhood team will resurface in the same manner as way back in Week 14 when the Niners upended Brady and Co. in dominant fashion, albeit in a playoff atmosphere.

However, should the opponent be Dallas, yet another chapter in San Francisco’s longtime rivalry against the Cowboys will be forged.

And the last one went the 49ers’ way, fortunately.

That said, a Monday night game will be played at Raymond James Stadium between Tampa Bay and Dallas, the winner ultimately traveling to the West Coast on a short week to visit the Niners.

But which team would San Francisco prefer to face?

Which team would 49ers rather face in NFL playoffs, Buccaneers or Cowboys?

The 49ers defeating the Buccaneers earlier in the regular season by a score of 35-7 is telling.

Not only did rookie quarterback Brock Purdy upend Brady by outperforming the future Hall of Famer in every sense of the term, but Purdy became the first quarterback making his inaugural NFL start to defeat Brady, too. The previous six first-time starters all lost.

But that was back in Week 14.

There’s something to be said about not counting Brady out until he’s, well… out. And it’s one thing to beat Brady during the regular season. It’s another challenge to defeat him in the postseason.

Yet the 8-9 Bucs limped into the playoffs not necessarily as NFC South champions, per se, but rather as the least-bad team out of that division. And, owners of the league’s 25th-best offense, Tampa Bay doesn’t exactly pose an offensive threat to the Niners’ No. 1-ranked defense during the regular season.

Purdy did manage to exploit what was still a good Buccaneers defense during that previous matchup, and that could help promote the idea that the Bucs are a better matchup for San Francisco despite Brady’s playoff pedigree.

As for the Cowboys?

Well, Dallas enters the game with the NFL’s third-best scoring offense. Aside from a relatively meaningless Week 18 game against the Washington Commanders in which the Cowboys scored only six points, head coach Mike McCarthy’s squad has scored at least 27 points per contest each week since Week 7.

Oh, and Dallas hasn’t been solely good on offense. It owns the fifth-best defense, too, headlined by Defensive Player of the Year candidate, linebacker Micah Parsons.

Putting that all into perspective, it’s probably a safe bet to assume the 49ers will be cheering for Brady and the Buccaneers on Monday night when they kick off against the Cowboys at 8:15 p.m. ET.