49ers

The 49ers beat the Cowboys 19-12 in the divisional playoffs to punch their ticket to the NFC championship.

That’s a couple big plays for him in a game where the 49ers needed him to be good. – Huge third-down throw from Purdy to Aiyuk on third-and-2 to extend the drive. – Big-time TD drive for the 49ers ends on the first play of the fourth quarter. – Huge return for the Cowboys after the TD, and now they’re rolling. – Pressure from the 49ers and Prescott steps up for a huge run on fourth down. The result was an easy screen to Lamb for a first down. Purdy just throws the ball away in time to leave San Francisco one second for a field goal to end the half. Just easy the whole way down on the ground and in the air. – Great timing on a blitz by Talanoa Hufanga forces a quick throw and a tackle for loss from Jimmie Ward. – Wake-up call on the 49ers’ first offensive series. Huge play that puts the 49ers at the Cowboys’ 21 to start their second series. They punched their ticket to the NFC championship for the third time in four years.

Behind a stifling defense, the 49ers eliminate the Cowboys for the second season in a row to move into the NFC championship game at the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Just for TV, get the ratings up. It was a 30-yard reception by tight end George Kittle, who stretched with his right hand to tip the ball back to himself. On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Christian McCaffrey scored on a two-yard touchdown run that put the 49ers up, 16-9, all the lead they would need. “Our takeaways for the season speak for themselves. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who was coming off a stellar performance in a wild-card win at Tampa Bay, was reacquainted with the interception issues that dogged him during the regular season. I can promise that the number will never be this again.” “He gave me a catchable ball, and I was just trying to be dramatic,” the tight end said with a smile. “That’s pretty sweet in the playoffs.” “He made a number of plays today,” Shanahan said. But Dallas didn’t force the rookie quarterback into a turnover. “We thought we were going to be able to get our hands on the ball just because of the way we play on defense,” Dallas coach Mike McCarthy said. “The number that it’s gotten to is ridiculous.

The Dallas Cowboys' final play in their loss to the 49ers featured O-linemen spread out wide and Ezekiel Elliott lined up at center.

That's when the final play served as a culmination of the Cowboys' poor execution down the stretch. The Cowboys never gave themselves a chance with how those final minutes unfolded. On the first play of their final series, Prescott rolled out on a slow-developing pass play well into his own end zone -- and he nearly was taken down for a game-ending safety. "We had it there for us to go get a step farther to the championship. With 10 seconds left, the 49ers sagged completely back on defense, and Dallas tried to catch them napping. Even though Schultz went out of bounds, he was knocked backward when he crossed the line. The 49ers' left gunner had been blocked to the ground, and the next man downfield was about 5 yards behind where the ball would have hit. On their prior offensive possession, Prescott was sacked on third-and-10, and the Cowboys punted from their own 18-yard line with all three timeouts remaining and more than 2 minutes left in the game. As did the Cowboys' season with a [KaVontae Turpin](https://www.nfl.com/players/kavontae-turpin/) -- more on him in a minute -- who was hit almost immediately. The stage was set for one final play from the Dallas Cowboys, who made myriad errors down the stretch Sunday but still had a shot to make things interesting in their Divisional Round game against the San Francisco 49ers. Dallas trailed by seven at its own 24-yard line, thanks to some rather poor execution in the final minutes.

To win the NFC Championship Game, the 49ers have to do everything they did to beat the Cowboys ... only better.

After Dallas drove for a field goal to make it 16-12, the 49ers went on another time-consuming drive, this time featuring seven hard [Elijah Mitchell](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/elijah-mitchell-U2DluzFgHJ8ncRvW/) runs for 26 yards, to set up a short [Robbie Gould](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/robbie-gould-jBFH4R11aFY9PYhJ/) field goal and the final score. When he sets up his game plan for these games, he has a pretty specific sense of how he thinks it has to go and what he wants to avoid. “I was trying to see if there would be a window opening up late, and I think the corner undercut it. Dallas’ pass rush wasn’t the same (the Cowboys had 54 on the season and two more against the [49ers](https://theathletic.com/nfl/team/niners/) look overpowering on Sunday as they mucked around and outlasted the [Cowboys](https://theathletic.com/nfl/team/cowboys/), 19-12, at Levi’s Stadium? And showed that the 49ers are the only NFC team that is capable of solving them on this stage. The 49ers’ defense prides itself on shutting down the run, and it was worth underlining that Dallas essentially abandoned its rushing game in the second half. Instead, the 49ers got the momentum from that stop. The 49ers are the No. But the high-flying team heading into next weekend’s epic NFC Championship Game matchup in Philadelphia right now is the [Eagles](https://theathletic.com/nfl/team/eagles/), who destroyed the [Giants](https://theathletic.com/nfl/team/giants/) in their divisional-round game. And they don’t have to be daring and dynamic to be extremely difficult to beat. [Jalen Hurts](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/jalen-hurts-yhzPJprUoEnfzPvf/) missed two of the last three games of the regular season and they finished 14-3.

With the San Francisco 49ers win over the Dallas Cowboys, the team has advanced to the NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles.

29th at 12pm PT on FOX 29th at 3:30pm PT on CBS As the No.

The 49ers will travel to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, Fox). San Francisco 49ers. After a few below-standard ...

For a defense that feasted on quarterback pressures and takeaways, it had difficulty getting to Purdy in the second half, and Troubling trend: It's hard to blame the Cowboys' defense for anything; but in the second half, it allowed a 91-yard scoring drive with the score tied 9-9, and after the Cowboys cut the deficit to 16-12, they allowed a 64-yard field goal drive. He became the first Cowboys quarterback with two interceptions in a playoff game since Troy Aikman in the 1998 wild-card round. Without his speed and elusiveness, the Cowboys could not do much of anything against a Niners run defense that did not allow an individual runner to top 70 yards during the season. It was just the second red zone pick of the season for Prescott. The Cowboys are now 6-13 in the playoffs when their quarterback has multiple interceptions in a game. Since winning Super Bowl XXX in the 1995 season, the Cowboys have lost to the That showed up on Sunday as they stood in the middle of the ring and exchanged blows for all 60 minutes, before the Niners emerged with the victory. As a result, the Cowboys' Super Bowl drought is now at 27 years and counting, and they face a daunting offseason that sees them with limited salary-cap options, crucial free agent decisions and the potential loss of two coordinators to head-coaching jobs elsewhere. It came with 5 minutes, 19 seconds left in the third quarter, when Purdy rolled to his left and saw tight end So, Kittle improvised, reaching out with his right hand and juggling it twice before hauling it in for a 29-yard gain. As in the number of turnovers he had.

Former Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy and ex-Iowa tight end George Kittle are one win from the Super Bowl.

The 49ers (15-4) used back-to-back long scoring drives in the second half to wear down the Cowboys (13-6) and win their 12th straight game. Cowboys: RB Tony Pollard left late in the first half after injuring his left ankle while getting tackled following a reception. He went 18 for 28 for 215 yards with no turnovers against the Cowboys, joining Joe Flacco (2008) and Mark Sanchez (2009) as the only rookie QBs to win two playoff starts. … DT Calvin Watkins (calf) left in the first half. "That's what the NFL is all about, going into a hostile environment like that," Purdy said of the Philadelphia game. Purdy and the 49ers will travel to Philadelphia next Sunday at p.m. There had been a dustup pregame when Maher was warming up. for the NFC Championship game. It's playoff football, it's never easy but we're moving on." He later made two field goals. "He's playing at a high level," Kittle said of Purdy after the game. He's just doing a great job."

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 19-12 after another hairy ending from Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.

Again, down a touchdown on fourth-and-10 deep in your own territory is pretty bleak; most analytic models had the The Cowboys didn’t hand the 49ers that game. But no Cowboys playoff loss would be complete without Mike McCarthy committing crimes against the clock.

In a conference championship round filled with star quarterbacks, the San Francisco 49ers' defense might end up being the star of the NFL's final four. San ...

Valley native Brock Purdy improved to 7-0 in his NFL career, as the rookie QB helped lead the 49ers past the Cowboys 19-12 on Sunday night.

Cowboys: RB Tony Pollard left late in the first half after injuring his left ankle while getting tackled following a reception. Roy Gerela missed six tries in 43 attempts in the 1970s for Houston and Pittsburgh. “He’s playing at a high level, getting our best players the football, he’s awesome and confident in the huddle. The 49ers (15-4) used back-to-back long scoring drives in the second half to wear down the Cowboys (13-6) and win their 12th straight game. He went 18 for 28 for 215 yards with no turnovers against the Cowboys, joining Joe Flacco (2008) and Mark Sanchez (2009) as the only rookie QBs to win two playoff starts. The Cowboys took over at their 6 and never got close from there.