FRISCO, Texas – Just when the Cowboys have their fourth opportunity of this 2026 teeter-totter of a season to win back-to-back games for the first time since the week of Thanksgiving last year …
Just when the Cowboys, sitting at 4-5 after nine games in this roller-coaster of a season, have yet another chance come Sunday to pull to .500 for the first time since they were 2-2 to start the season …
Just when the Cowboys, sitting in second place in the NFC East, have a prime opportunity to pull even in the win column with the division-leading New York Football Giants, losers Thursday night to the Washington Commanders at home, 24-21, exhibiting their ripe vulnerability now at 5-3-1 …
Yep, with all that on the line, why, just who should show up for this nationally televised 3:25 p.m. kickoff before the expected jam-packed AT&T Stadium with mere standing room tickets on the secondary market going for more than $200, especially with so many opposing fans having moved to the more affordable state of Texas from California, oh, these many years of late but …
These San Francisco 49ers.
Yep, here they come, the Cowboys' pests of late with their 7-1 record, tied for the best in the NFL with the equally 7-1 Buffalo Bills, playing just their third non-neutral road game, snooping around Arlington to test the legitimacy of these hard-to-figure Cowboys entering Week 10 of the season.
This is no pop quiz. Nope, this is a mid-term exam for the Cowboys, aiming to pass against the best team they will have faced so far this season while looking for their second most prominent win of the Brian Schottenheimer era, right there next to beating the Philadelphia Eagles the second time around last year. That was 18 games ago.
When Cowboys first-year defensive coordinator Christian Parker was asked if this would be a signature win for the fixer-upper Cowboys – roster and coaching staff alike in this renovation – he wasn't into measuring magnitude.
"I think any win is going to be big," Parker said. "You know, you're trying to win every game. You know, trying to get consecutive victories – good teams go on runs. Certainly, there is history behind this matchup. Of course, we all acknowledge that, respect that.
"But at the end of the day, that's a really good football team coming in. We give them the respect we give any other opponent. But we're focused on ourselves and what we need to do to win the game on Sunday."
Ah yes, the history. Recent and current
The Niners have beaten the Cowboys the last four straight, dating back to those consecutive playoff losses to end the 12-5 seasons of 2021 and 2022. They lost that first-round wild-card game 23-17 as time ran out on the Cowboys at the San Francisco 24-yard line, and then the following season in the divisional round game, 19-12, even though the Cowboys defense on the road held the Niners to just four field goals and one touchdown.
To the majority of this current 53-man roster, they would have to Google it. Just nine guys playing during that 2022 season are still on the team today, the loss most notably sticking in the craw of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Bryan Anger and Malik Hooker, along with then-rookies Tyler Smith, Jake Ferguson, DaRon Bland, KaVontae Turpin and Markquese Bell.
Then the Cowboys went on to lose the past two regular-season meetings, 42-10 in 2023 and 30-24 in 2024.
But the Niners-Cowboys history has not always been this one-sided. The Cowboys have enjoyed their way against the Niners over the years, winning six of seven from 2001 to 2020; those three straight during the 1992-93 season, including the two NFC title games propelling the Cowboys into those back-to-back Super Bowl XXVII and XXVIII titles. Oh yes, those "signature" wins produced former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson to memorably scream "How 'bout dem Cowboys!" after the 1992 NFC title victory at Candlestick Park.
Then hard to forget on the Thursday night prior to the Cowboys' 1993 NFC title win at Texas Stadium (Cowboys 38, Niners 21), a little full of himself – maybe fueled by a few Heinekens, too – Jimmy boldly predicting on local talk radio, "We will win the game, and you can put that in three-inch headlines" that materialized for sure in Friday morning's newspapers, causing then-Niners head coach George Seifert to say during his pregame media session upon his Friday afternoon arrival, "You (uh, Jimmy) gotta have big ones" to say such.
Then there also was the 11-season stretch from 1970 through 1980, the Cowboys winning seven of eight games, including knocking out the 49ers in consecutive NFC title games on their way to the franchise's first two Super Bowls, those 1970 and 1971 seasons.
So this history that some might consider ancient and medieval does not just include The Catch game for the 1981 NFC Championship the Niners won with the infamous Joe Montana-to-Dwight Clark catch for what turned out to be the winning touchdown with 51 seconds left at Candlestick in the 28-27 victory, which jump-started the San Francisco franchise's glorious 1980s stretch.
But that was all then. This is now.
The Cowboys must find out if this encouraging defensive stretch of limiting four of the past five opponents to no more than 24 points, though only winning two of the five games, is for real or just a mirage, knowing just a couple of defensive breakdowns in those games became the difference between winning and losing.
And while the Cowboys offense has been wildly inconsistent during this stretch, they have scored at least the 27 points of this past Sunday's win over Indianapolis (27-23) in three of those five games, the high of 38 in the Philadelphia beatdown.
To me, the Cowboys defense must make the difference against this iteration of the Niners, who average 29 points a game compared to the Cowboys' 27. Parker set the tone this week when plainly saying of facing this Niners offense, led by quarterback Brock Purdy and versatile football player Christian McCaffrey, along with a stout offensive line and tight end George Kittle, "When the ball is snapped, football is being played."
That means his defense must bow up, and there is, albeit, an inconsistent trend of improvement, encouraging signs. In three of the past five games, the Cowboys' at times porous run defense has held its opponent to no more than 121 yards. Problem is, in the other two of those games, the defense was gashed for 241 and 202 yards rushing in losses to Tampa Bay and Arizona. Go figure.
And what began this season as an inept pass rush suddenly has raised some eyebrows. The Cowboys have bagged 13 of their 17 sacks, with, weirdly, a high of five in the 33-30 overtime loss to Arizona during this stretch. They also have 28 QB hits and six takeaways.
"I think you have to start with the pass rush," Schottenheimer said when asked what's been making the difference in the defensive surge of late. "Not just the pressure packages but the way we've rushed the passer. We're winning some one-on-ones."
As for veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark's take on the somewhat-turnaround, "It's a combination of the coaches and us," plus sensing, "We're close, we're close. Got to stop those big explosive plays."
This continued QB pressure is a must against Purdy, who has only been sacked eight times, though two of those were in San Fran's only loss of the season, 29-20, to Atlanta just two weeks ago, and also included being picked off two of his five times this year. The Falcons also recovered two of the Niners' three fumbles in that game and broke up seven passes, usually a sign of a QB being under duress.
And on top of that, the Cowboys can't have what's becoming this nagging, accustomed two or three breakdown plays each game of late. Like that Colts' 36-yard run and 55-yard swing pass for a TD; like Arizona's 63-yard TD run and 53-yard run; the 29-yard Saquon Barkley run; and the 72-yard run and 64-yard pass to set up two of Tampa Bay's touchdowns.
Just can't have it if the Cowboys are going to hang with San Francisco. If they have designs on beating these Niners, who have run for at least 123 yards in six of eight games, with 95 and 94 in the other two. If they can limit the Niners' passing game, having thrown for more than 200 yards in all but one game. The same Niners having rushed for 12 touchdowns and thrown for 17 more, while the Niners are converting 51.7 percent of their third-down opportunities and are eight-of-11 on fourth.
As you can see, the Cowboys defensive margin for error is slim if they are in a winning state of mind; if they are to win back--to-back games for the first time in seemingly forever; if they are to reach .500 with seven games to play, with the next two at home against Tennessee (1-7) and Philadelphia (2-7); and if they are to match the 5-3-1 Giants win total at 5, having shown their vulnerability in Thursday night's loss to the Commanders (3-5-1), by the way only a half game behind the 4-5 Cowboys.
As Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that Feb. 25, 1989, day when buying this franchise: "We will win, win is the name of the game" that still applies especially for this Sunday afternoon.
And Dak seconds that notion, certainly acknowledging the Cowboys' recent woes against the 49ers, saying, "I want to beat them absolutely. And I'm not naive to what has happened or my history against them. But to put that on the rest of these guys or put that on the locker room, I think that's stupid. This is about us going in and getting a win.
"We've got to go get a win this week."
No matter if this just happens to be against the 49ers.
