Key moments from the Dallas Cowboys-San Francisco 49ers rivalry - ESPN

The Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers will renew their longstanding rivalry this weekend, this time under the bright lights of Levi's Stadium on «Sunday Night Football.»

This is the first meeting between the teams in prime time since 1990 and only the fourth prime-time matchup they've shared in their long and storied history. It's also their third overall meeting in as many years.

After going dormant for 27 years, the Cowboys-Niners rivalry roared back to life in the 2021 NFC wild-card round and again in last year's NFC divisional round.

San Francisco won both postseason matchups, evening the all-time series at 19-19-1. As Week 5 games go, it doesn't get much bigger than the 4-0 Niners against the 3-1 Cowboys. That's why neither coach downplayed how meaningful it would be to win on Sunday night.

Read more: Cowboys-49ers rivalry is undergoing a renaissance

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan has plenty of memories of Cowboys-49ers meetings as his father, Mike Shanahan, worked as the Niners offensive coordinator in those 1992 to 1994 contests. He believes the recent contests between the teams has reignited the rivalry.

«Anytime you play each other in the playoffs, it's always usually a bit bigger the next year,» Shanahan said. «And with that being back-to-back, it was huge. That's what I always remembered growing up.… They played in the NFC Championship all three years that I lived here. So just playing them in the playoffs two years ago kind of was reminiscent of that.… Those histories stack up.»

Dallas coach Mike McCarthy has also seen the rivalry up close from his time as Niners offensive coordinator in 2005. He's called «The Catch» his first memory of it. Unlike Shanahan, though, McCarthy has a more bitter taste after