Skip Bayless once again lulled into believing Cowboys will beat 49ers

Even if it felt weird for 49ers fans to root for the Cowboys on Sunday, Dallas made it worthwhile with a thorough win over the Eagles — one week after Cowboys fans enjoyed seeing the 49ers crush Philly. The payoff for both came in the Eagles falling to 10-3, tied with both the 49ers and Cowboys for the best record in the NFC.

But thanks to their blowout wins over both Dallas and Philly this season, the Niners are back as the NFC’s top seed and looked the part in Sunday’s win over Seattle. Still, it won’t take 49ers fans long to restart their hatred of the Cowboys, even with their only chance at a rematch coming in a potential playoff showdown.

In fact, the sports media scene’s most prominent Cowboys fan in Skip Bayless is making sure that any good feelings don’t last even into Monday afternoon. Bayless looked all the way ahead to the playoffs on his “Undisputed” show after the Cowboys’ 33-13 win over Philly.

“I saw a team that, if it gets to see the 49ers again, it will beat the 49ers,” Bayless said on Monday. 

The bold prediction from Bayless earned an immediate visceral reaction from his “Undisputed” co-hosts Richard Sherman and Keyshawn Johnson. Sherman even told Bayless, “You don’t believe that, Skip.”

Bayless cut Sherman off, retorting, “I believe it with all of my heart and soul.”

Bayless was emboldened by the fourth “Undisputed” host, former Cowboys star Michael Irvin. The Hall of Famer said he’s at a “10-plus” in his confidence in the Cowboys and quickly dismissed the Eagles as a threat.

It’s a take Bayless has been building up to over the past few weeks as the Cowboys have won five straight games. Even last Monday, after the 49ers beat the Eagles, he made it clear he was hoping the Cowboys could go back to Levi’s Stadium in the postseason for another go at the Niners.

“I would relish a ‘third time’s the playoff charm’ opportunity to go back to San Francisco, where we were last year at the end of the year,” Bayless said on Dec. 4.

Of course, the last two playoff matchups have seen the Niners win 23-17 in Arlington in the 2021 season and 19-12 in Santa Clara last season. But to Bayless, last year’s game is the indication of how close the Cowboys are — although he did ignore this season’s 42-10 October blowout, which left Bayless miserable at the time.

“We held them to 19 points — not 42 — 19 in a playoff game,” Bayless continued on Dec. 4. “And my quarterback did not play very well, he threw it to them twice and we had three turnovers and could not dig out of that hole. Nineteen to 12, I feel like we could reverse that score. I believe we could go out there and beat them because we have taken off.”

Bayless has clearly become even more emboldened by Dallas’ strong showing against the Eagles on Sunday, even though Philly is still the technical NFC East leader on a tiebreaker. When asked on Monday if the 49ers are “clearly better” than the Cowboys with Brock Purdy at quarterback, Sherman and Johnson argued affirmatively and Bayless surprisingly agreed with them … until he didn’t.

“Usually, I say, ‘What does your eye test tell you?’ and right now, even my eye test tells me San Francisco is better,” Bayless said on Monday. “But I’ve got this little voice in the back of my head, deep down in my psyche, that is screaming at me that my gut feeling should be that I should go on the record, right here right now, that if we are to see them again — albeit at their place — we will beat them this time. Because the third time will be the charm, because our quarterback will play a little better than that quarterback because he’s more battle-tested than that quarterback.”

Even as his hosts are telling him to stop listening to the voices in his head, Bayless is all-in. All Niners fans can hope is that, if there’s a playoff matchup for the third year in a row, Bayless will find a new motion when he goes to dispose of his Dallas garments.