NFL's Best Team? Could 49ers 'Road To The Super Bowl' Go Through Dallas Cowboys?

Is San Francisco the NFL's Best Team? 49ers 'Have To Go Through Us!,' Dallas Cowboys Believe

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Dallas Cowboys have often taken on a boastful tone with it comes to Super Bowl talk. This week, though, leading up to this massive showdown with the San Francisco 49ers on "Sunday Night Football,'' Dallas has taken on a respectful tone, almost a reverent tone, toward its rival.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, though, sort of wants it both ways when it comes to "The Road to the Super Bowl'' and which team is destined to zip down the fast lane.

On the one hand, Jones said this week, “They (the 49ers) are, right now, probably the most likely team to go win the Super Bowl.''

Dallas vs. San Francisco

And that seems true enough. The Niners are loaded. They are undefeated. And maybe the NFC West will prove for them to be easy enough to navigate.

But, Jones also offered up a "but'' regarding his own team, a note of confidence that belies the fact that Dallas has in the last two seasons seen its year end with Niners playoff wins.

"But,'' Jones added via 105.3 The Fan, "in order for them to get there, they have to go by us, hopefully two times if that’s the way it falls in the playoffs and we’re in the playoffs, of course.''

There are a handful of "ifs'' and "buts'' in that statement ... but that statement still seems accurate. The Niners are undefeated at 4-0 (as are the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles). But Dallas is on their heels at 3-1. By most statistical measurements, that trio of teams could end up sharing that fast lane ... until one inevitably pulls away toward a Super Bowl.

The Niners have beaten the Cowboys in each of the last two postseasons, knocking them out in the Wild Card Round two years ago and the Divisional Round last January. That's been Dallas' "road.''

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So both analogous concepts are accurate: The Cowboys' path to the Super Bowl literally goes through the Bay Area here on Sunday at Levi's Stadium ... but the Cowboys also have their hands on the steering wheel in a way that could redirect "The Road to the Super Bowl'' through Texas.