Although the San Francisco 49ers has a rich history of playoff matchups, the Dallas Cowboys are not in the same postseason since 1995.
This weekend, the Cowboys will host the sixth-seeded 49ers in round one of the wild card. This will be the third meeting between San Francisco’s head coach Kyle Shanahan and Dallas. They previously met in the regular season in 2017 as well as 2020.
Shanahan was in high school when the Cowboys and Niners last met in the playoffs. However, he still vividly remembers the 1990s showdowns between the two teams. His players, unfortunately, don’t.
Shanahan was today asked if current players could appreciate the meaning of Niners-Cowboys in the 1990s. He was brutally honest when he said no.
Shanahan said “not at all” when asked if the current players appreciate how big the 49ers/Cowboys rivalry was in the 90s. He talked about how some players were born in the 2000s and don’t get his Wedding Crashers references in team meetings.
— Niners Nation (@NinersNation) January 11, 2022
Shanahan is 42. Only three Niner players might still have memories of Troy Aikman or Michael Irvin in front of Steve Young and Jerry Rice: kicker Robbie Gould (39), center Alex Mack (36), and left tackle Trent Williams (33)
It is unlikely that either team will have to learn from the past before playing on Sunday. They can just focus on writing their own story in the rivalry.