The San Francisco 49ers are the NFL team to beat and the clear favorite for Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas this February.
There is no reasonable conclusion after watching Kyle Shanahan’s crew dismantle the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles in their own building this weekend. San Francisco made dismantling a fellow powerhouse look frighteningly easy. After a slow start, it was almost as if the Eagles didn’t belong on the same field as San Francisco.
If you’ve followed the Eagles’ exploits all season, you know none of this new. A lot of their romp to a 10-2 record has occasionally felt like it was built on smoke and mirrors. The Eagles just haven’t really impressed as often as you’d expect a team rife with All-Pro talent on both sides of the ball. That’s why I’m quite confident in the assessment below.
The Dallas Cowboys are a bigger threat to the 49ers’ supremacy than the Eagles. Hear me out.
The Cowboys have been on a mission since getting blown out by the 49ers on national television in early October. They’ve won six of their last seven games (while scoring 40 points three times), and their raucous defense, led by Micah Parsons, is humbling quarterbacks around the league. Perhaps most importantly, Dak Prescott is playing the best football of his career as a genuine MVP favorite. Who are we to argue with a 21-2 touchdown to interception ratio since that fateful October game in San Francisco?
And on Sunday night in Dallas, the Eagles must defeat their division rivals to maintain control of the NFC East. Needless to say, I’m betting my money on these red-hot Cowboys.
You might recall a critical moment from the aftermath of the 49ers’ humiliation of the Cowboys. Parsons claimed that the 42-10 final score didn’t reflect the gap between the NFC powers. At the time, it seemed silly of Parsons, even a little delusional. Roughly two months later, I’m starting to see he had a point. The Cowboys are different. They are better. They’re finally playing like a team that belongs among the league’s elite and which can make real noise this January.
I know everyone wants a Round 3 between the 49ers and Eagles. We still might get it. But I have a feeling the Cowboys will push the Bay Area juggernaut more than anyone wants to believe if they have a postseason rematch this winter. These Cowboys have a weird competitive aura about them that I can’t ignore any longer.
Naturally, in For The Win‘s Week 14 NFL power rankings, the Cowboys are a heavy point of discussion. As are the 49ers and Eagles. The playoffs are around the corner. Let’s start setting the table for all the madness, folks.