Don't look now, but the DeLorean has officially reached 88 mph in the lightning storm -- the are hoping that means will do the same on Sunday as one of what will need to https://www.blackhawksfanedge.com/ed-belfour-jersey be an onslaught of weaponry against the visiting . The matchup is a blast to the past, a salute to the 1990s when the premier NFC rivalry was these two clubs beating the hell out of each other en route to owning the NFL with several championships. Those teams produced a laundry list of Hall of Famers and defined the conference for the better part of a decade before the tide turned to the dominance of other teams.But fast forward to this January and the two will square off against each other in the postseason for the first time since the NFC Championship following the 1994 season, when the 49ers (13-3) hung a 38-28 final score around the neck of the Cowboys (12-4) en route to securing victory in Super Bowl XXIX over the San Diego/Los Angeles . So yes, the 49ers struck the last blow in the once blazing-hot rivalry, but it was simply payback for what happened before.One year prior, the Cowboys (12-4) thumped the 49ers (10-6) with a 38-21 drubbing and then went on to hand the a 30-13 lo s in Super Bowl XXVIIi, invoking deja vu from the year preceding that one -- entering the postseason that year with a 13-3 record and walking past the 49ers (14-2) to hand the Bills a 52-17 obliteration in Super Bowl XXVII. But wait, there's more, and much more of a history le son than I can squeeze into this intro. They had everything, including the legendary broadcasting chops of the dynamic duo Pat Summerall and John Madden, the occasional "BOOM!" from Madden making you feel as if you were the one who got hit on a tackle. There were also the cosmic postseason clashes of the 70s and 80s, including one that involved "The Catch," an infamous grab made by receiver Dwight Clark on a throw from Joe Montana that broke the Cowboys hearts during the conference championship to follow the 1981 season, the 49ers then defeating the in Super Bowl XVI. But, here again, that was payback for the Cowboys having defeated the 49ers in the NFC Championship in both the 1970 and 1971 season and, by now, you're starting to grasp why this coming matchup between the two organizations means so much to so many around the world.It's bigger than who takes the field on Sunday, Jan. 16 but, at the same time, it's those very players tasked with adding another chapter in a rivalry book that will be dusted off and again thrust at the forefront of https://www.blackhawksfanedge.com/graham-knott-men-jersey the NFL playoffs -- just like old times. And as the old is made new, the new is soon to be made old, which is to say someone has to lose this game and land on the wrong part of their franchise's history, because there are no ties in the NFL playoffs.So https://www.blackhawksfanedge.com/andrew-shaw-women-jersey , who takes it? Will and the Cowboys offense establish consistency after blasting the to end the regular season, or will have to join and Co. in carrying them with an electric defensive effort? Will the latter be able to contain and and, if so, can lead the charge in leveling the playing field against a Cowboys offense that can explode at a moment's notice? Let's discu s how the 49ers stack up against the Cowboys in the present, with the future on the line for both.Date:Sunday, Jan. 16 |Time:4:30 p.m. ETLocation: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)TV:CBS / Nickelodeon |Stream:Paramount+ ( )Follow: Odds:Cowboys -3 | O/U 51Cowboys (3rd seed): 12-5 overall, 10-2 conference49ers (6th seed): 10-7 overall, 7-5 conferenceSeries record: 19-17-1, Cowboys lead The first thing that stands out like a broken thumb in a cast here is in how dominant the Cowboys have been within the NFC, a category the 49ers nearly broke even in. The only two lo ses by the Cowboys in the conference came at the hands of and the defending champion and and the also playoff-bound . It's also key to mention how the Cowboys could've arguably won both of those games as well, despite their struggles on offense, if kicker didn't leave points on the field that could've altered the outcome and if not for controversial officiating. That said, while it's easily feasible the Cowboys could've done the impo sible and gone undefeated in the NFC, the 49ers struggled to finish two games above .500.Kyle Shanahan's group lost to and the top-seeded , which is nothing to shake a stick at, and they were also swept by the aforementioned Cardinals but, more concerning, was in how they were swept by the playoff-le s who had been completely out of sorts the entire season. That said, sweeping the counts for a metric ton, especially considering what they did to the Rams to punch their ticket into the postseason in Week 18.You can count on this being a back alley brawl between the Cowboys and 49ers, but it's also to say the former mostly imposed their will upon NFC opponents in 2021, while the latter found themselves one NFC lo s away from not being in this conversation at all, and that goes to my next point https://www.blackhawksfanedge.com/nathan-noel-women-jersey . What the 49ers did against the Rams in Week 18 was spectacular, and that adjective still feels as if it discounts their accomplishment after falling behind 17-0 in the first half before rallying back to force overtime and an eventual 27-24 victory that had no impact on the division-winning Rams, but gave San Francisco a ticket to the tournament and emboldened them to believe they can defeat anyone in the conference; and that's true, they can, including the uneven Cowboys. There is something to be said for emotional and mental fatigue coming out of a battle like the one the 49ers just escaped though, and we've all seen how it can negatively impact a sports team as often (if not more so) as we've seen how it can galvanize them toward a championship.Which will it be for the 49ers? That depends on a variety of factors.The first will be the fact they will travel to face the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, where the Dallas offense averages a leviathan 36.38 points per game while allowing only 22.13 points on average by opponents, one week after having left it all on the field against the Rams on Sunday. That presumably includes most of their playbook, as Shanahan was forced to dig into his vault to buy a chance at the playoffs, which inherently gives Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn a ton of film to di sect that Shanahan otherwise would've preferred he didn't have. Contrarily, after easily handling the Eagles in the regular season finale https://www.blackhawksfanedge.com/connor-murphy-men-jersey and with rumors that offensive coordinator might be sitting on a section of his playbook for the playoffs, things get very interesting here.The 49ers will be juiced at kickoff after what they did to the Rams, but if the Cowboys get out to a fast start that also allows the defense to beat up on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo by negating the stellar rushing attack by using the scoreboard