SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Nov. 6, 1994 -- Because of their success in January, the 49ers have spent years perfecting a blase public approach to games in November. You never hear them talking about a must-win game. Even when Bay Area fans were going bananas two months ago over Joe Montana vs. Steve Young, the team kept downplaying the game's significance.
Bill Walsh used to preach the importance of remaining on an even keel week after week, and George Seifert has copied that style.
But even if the 49ers spend this week trying to make Sunday's game against Dallas into something less than Armageddon, this is one time you do not have to buy into it. Clearly, this is a game with much more significance than most: It's the 49ers' biggest regular-season game in years.
It's all quite simple, really.
The Cowboys have beaten the 49ers three straight times over the last two seasons by margins of 10, 9 and 17 points, both in San Francisco and in Texas. So regardless of Sunday's outcome at Candlestick, the Cowboys won't have any doubts in their minds if the teams meet again in what many believe will be another inevitable NFC Championship Game rematch.
Dallas knows it can beat San Francisco.
On the other hand, what's in the 49ers' minds? If they lose to Dallas for the fourth time in a row, what kind of imprint will that leave on the 49ers in January? Would the 49ers be thinking they can beat the Cowboys? Would they be hoping they could? Certainly. But they wouldn't know they could, and that's a big distinction.
The 49ers need this victory much more than Dallas, because of what it would mean to their own psyche the next time the two teams play.
Every change the 49ers made during the last year was done with the idea of closing the gap with the Cowboys. They needed to get faster on defense and better on defense. They needed Ken Norton and Gary Plummer to stop Emmitt Smith, and they needed Deion Sanders to stop Michael Irvin. If the 49ers can't beat the Cowboys after devoting all that attention to them, what must they still do to catch up with them?
At least the 49ers are getting the Cowboys at the right time.
Since last month's debacle against Philadelphia, the 49ers have made a U-turn. Starting in the second quarter at Detroit when they trailed, 14-0, the 49ers have outscored their opponents, 147-48, in winning four straight games. Steve Young has completed 69 of his last 89 passes.
Also, the 49ers have been getting healthy, while Dallas has been getting weaker. With Harris Barton returning to the lineup yesterday, the 49ers' offensive line is in its best shape of the year. Barton's return gives Young confidence he won't get his head knocked off from the blind side, and it gives offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan the freedom to call pass plays that take longer to develop.
The 49ers had to shorten their pass routes earlier this season, a move that also hurt the running game because it brought more defensive players closer to the line of scrimmage. Opponents knew the 49ers couldn't provide protection for Young if he waited for long pass patterns to develop. But the 49ers had time to take their shots down the field Sunday. In just the first half, they had five offensive plays of more than 20 yards. Not counting Division II opponent Tampa Bay, the 49ers' offense produced only three plays of more than 20 yards in three games last month.
At the same time, Cowboys right tackle Erik Williams is out for the season after suffering multiple injuries in an auto accident, and two other starting linemen are hurting. So Dallas is unable to provide the kind of protection that Aikman is used to getting, and now it's Aikman, not Young, who is getting his brain scrambled on a regular basis.
Two weeks ago, Aikman got clobbered by Arizona's Wilber Marshall, a blow under the chin that resulted in a concussion and caused Dallas owner Jerry Jones to lobby with league officials for a fine against Marshall. Jones didn't get the fine assessed, but the league office apparently got the message: Cincinnati linebacker James Francis was fined $12,500 for a late hit against Aikman last week.
The 49ers will be playing this game at home and will even be wearing their private good-luck charms, the ``throwback'' uniforms. They have an extra day's rest on the Cowboys, who will have to travel in a short week after playing Monday night against the Giants.
So there are no excuses for San Francisco.
Unfortunately for the 49ers, all of these factors going their way begs a bigger question: How well have they actually closed the gap against Dallas?
In the last couple of games, their defense has looked a lot better than it did earlier in the season. Sunday, in fact, it was defensive plays that broke the game open. After Young threw an interception deep in 49ers territory in the second quarter, the defense forced Washington to settle for a field goal. With Washington threatening to score a touchdown in the third quarter that would have made it a 17-10 game, the 49ers' defense blitzed, and Tim McDonald grabbed an interception and returned it for the game-clinching touchdown.
The McDonald play was unusual because the 49ers have not been resorting to many blitzes in recent games. In the past four weeks, the 49ers' opposing quarterbacks were named Gus Frerotte, Trent Dilfer, Jeff George and Scott Mitchell. The 49ers were able to confuse Frerotte on Sunday without blitzing him.
But where the Redskins had Frerotte, the Cowboys have Aikman. Where the Redskins had Ricky Ervins to run the ball, the Cowboys have Emmitt Smith. Where the Redskins had Henry Ellard, Desmond Howard and Tydus Wynans to catch the ball, the Cowboys have Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper.
And significantly, the Cowboys' defense still has more speed than even the improved version of the 49ers' defense. The Cowboys don't seem to have suffered from the free-agency loss of Ken Norton, Jimmie Jones and Tony Casillas. Dallas still ranks ahead of San Francisco in every key defensive category. In a game that once more figures to be decided by which defense can stop the other team's offense, that is not a fact that bodes well for the 49ers.