Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is passionate about his franchise’s rivalry with the 49ers.
So much so that Jones once cried over it.
After San Francisco defeated Dallas on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” in Week 8, the 82-year-old explained to 105.3 The Fan how the 49ers’ 1994 NFC Championship Game win over the Cowboys drove him to tears of dedication.
“I personally -- and we don’t need to go way back -- one of the few times I’ve ever cried -- literally, cried -- was the [1994 NFC Championship Game] we had at Candlestick Park in San Francisco,” Jones recalled (h/t Dallas Cowboys). “We lost that game, and I thought we had a great team. We lost it when [Barry Switzer] was our coach and [Deion Sanders] was a 49er. We came back there, and I thought we had a chance to win it after a disastrous start.”
The 49ers defeated the Cowboys, 38-28, to advance to Super Bowl XXIX at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. San Francisco ultimately beat the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, for its fifth and latest Vince Lombardi Trophy.
As Jones mentioned, that Dallas team was solid. The Cowboys entered with a 13-4 record (including the playoffs) and rallied to make the game interesting after trailing 21-0. But not even Dallas’ Pro Football Hall of Fame duo -- quarterback Troy Aikman and running back Emmitt Smith -- could will the Cowboys to a win.
And still, despite dropping that game and the last four 49ers-Cowboys matchups, Jones has great respect for San Francisco.
San Francisco 49ers
“I can go that far back [to the 1994 NFC Championship Game] with you about what San Francisco has meant to us,” Jones said. “We’ve had some great days in San Francisco; go back pretty far to those great days. [49ers] are a great franchise; they’re formidable. We got a great history with them.
“Now, they’ve been to more championship games than we have, but I think we both need to see a Super Bowl …”
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The two franchises have provided for some great NFL history and have made each other better in the process.
Hilariously, Jones recognized that both San Francisco and Dallas are yearning for that sixth Super Bowl win.
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