The Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers are currently at the bottom of their respective divisions, leaving their scheduled Week 15 meeting with little-to-no relevance for the rest of the nation. Accordingly, the NFL has used its flexible scheduling process to take the game off of Sunday Night Football and move it to an early afternoon start.
The New York Giants (5-7) and Cleveland Browns (9-3) will now be playing in primetime. If the playoffs started today the Giants would take the NFC East and the Browns would be one of the AFC’s wild card teams.
Flex: The NFL has moved #Giants–#Browns to Sunday night on @SNFonNBC in Week 15, among other changes. pic.twitter.com/3QvZzGqAKs
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 9, 2020
Dallas fell to 3-9 last night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens are all-but-out of the NFC East race. They are two games back of the Giants and three games behind the Washington Football Team thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The 49ers are a more respectable 5-7 and still alive in the NFC’s wild card race. They host Washington this Sunday and may fall out of realistic contention with a loss.
Given the allure of both the Cowboys and 49ers franchises and their rich historical rivalry, this game being taken out of primetime speaks volumes about how things have gone for both this season. And really, the major share of the blame goes to Dallas for being a bottom-feeder in 2020.
Perhaps their Week 15 matchup will wind up having greater postseason implications than it currently projects to. But either way, it definitely won’t be happening on Sunday Night Football.
