Cowboys playoff schedule: If Dallas wins on Monday night they will visit 49ers on Sunday afternoon

The NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend has only one game left in it and it is the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. As the Cowboys are partaking in the last game of the weekend they know their fate should they emerge from Tampa with their first-ever win against Tom Brady.

It is a road matchup against the San Francisco 49ers that awaits the winner of Monday night’s game and it was cemented as the case on Sunday when the New York Giants defeated the Minnesota Vikings. While the matchup was known, when it would happen was still undetermined, that is until after the final Sunday game came to a close.

If the Cowboys do beat the Buccaneers then they will visit the 49ers on Sunday afternoon at 6:30pm ET. The game that San Francisco is hosting will be the finale of the Divisional Round.

This is obviously only the case if the Cowboys win on Monday night, if they do not then their season is over, but if Dallas does continue on they will serve as the final game of a second straight playoff weekend.

While there are many Cowboys fans anxious about the team having to play the 49ers in the next round if they make it there, there is an argument that this is the best (or least bad) way that this could have all unfolded.

It is very likely (obviously anything can happen) that Dallas will have to play both the 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles (who host the New York Giants on Saturday night) on the path to the Super Bowl if they are fortunate enough to continue even that far. We spoke when the league set Monday night’s game about the potential rest disadvantage that Dallas could have been at if they had drawn Philly in the Divisional Round. They would have been coming off of the shortest amount of rest possible (as the road team at that) visiting the team coming off of the longest amount of rest possible. Obviously this is not the case with San Francisco.

Again, if you operate under the assumption that Dallas will have to play both then this is arguably the best way to go about it. What’s more is in a world where anything can happen it is possible that the Giants upset the Eagles and that the Cowboys win against San Francisco. This would set up an NFC Championship Game between the Cowboys and Giants back at AT&T Stadium which would be quite the stunner. It goes without saying that if Dallas advances to the Divisional Round that because the other NFC matchup is a day before that they will know where a title game would be played before even kicking off.

Obviously there is a lot to potentially go before then. First up the Cowboys have to win on Monday night.