SANTA CLARA, Calif. — This is where the truth stalks the Dallas Cowboys.
If Sunday night wasn’t just another game, as head coach Mike McCarthy professed in the run-up against the San Francisco 49ers, then this cannot just be another loss. And if last year’s playoff loss to the 49ers was something thought about daily, as Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said last week, then Sunday night might crawl into some nights, too. That’s how rough this moment was for the Cowboys — a 42-10 loss at the hands of the 49ers and a measuring stick that turned out to be a stick of dynamite.