The 49ers’ last primetime game of the season, a Week 15 Sunday night matchup with the Cowboys, has been taken out of the Sunday Night Football slot the NFL announced.
San Francisco and Dallas will now square off at 10:00 am Pacific Time at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The Giants-Browns matchup will take over the Sunday night vacancy.
The 49ers and Cowboys could both be well out of the playoff hunt by the time they play, and a meaningless Sunday night game in the waning weeks of the season isn’t something that likely interests the NFL or NBC. Cleveland meanwhile has an outside shot at the AFC North crown while the Giants are holding onto first place in the NFC East.
It’s been a disappointing year for both the 49ers and Cowboys. Both clubs figured to be atop their divisions and battling for a top seed in the NFC playoff picture. Injuries to several key players, including both starting quarterbacks, derailed a potential rekindling of a rivalry that dominated the NFL in the late 1980s and early 1990s.