The 49ers Will Play the Cowboys or the Buccaneers in the Divisional Playoffs

The 49ers probably would have preferred to play the Vikings.

We don't yet know which team the 49ers will play in the next round of the playoffs, but we do know who they won't play: The Minnesota Vikings. They just lost to the New York Giants, which means the 49ers will face the winner between the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who play Monday night.

Instant analysis: the 49ers' upcoming opponent will have two fewer days to rest and prepare before traveling to Santa Clara and playing on the road. Advantage: 49ers.

But I'm not sure the Vikings loss is the best outcome for the 49ers. As we just saw, the Vikings are a flawed team that has a core group of veterans who have been together a long time and have lost lots of big games together. They're losers. Plus they have an awful defense, and a quarterback in Kirk Cousins who shrivels in big games and cannot escape the 49ers' pass rush.

Now, the 49ers will have to face Dak Prescott or Tom Brady, both of whom are better than Cousins.

The 49ers faced Brady a month ago and blew him out, but the Buccaneers were missing five of their best players -- Antoine Winfield Jr., Mike Edwards, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Vita Vea and Tristan Wirfs. Still, the Buccaneers are 8-9. They're not a big threat.

The Cowboys are 12-5, and they have the fourth-ranked scoring offense and the fifth-ranked scoring defense. They're a threat. They have Micah Parsons, who's the second-best edge rusher in the NFL after Nick Bosa, plus they have CeeDee Lamb, who's an elite wide receiver. In addition, the Cowboys have Dak Prescott, who's not a great quarterback, but he's much better than Geno Smith and Dak Prescott, who put up good numbers against the 49ers defense the past few weeks.

The Cowboys probably don't have a good enough defense to shut down the 49ers offense, because the 49ers offense looks unstoppable right now. So Dallas probably would have to score at least 30 points to win. And Dallas has scored more than 30 points five times this season. So theoretically, it has the firepower to compete with the 49ers in a shootout.

But first, it has to beat Brady. And the Cowboys seem like a team that could choke in the playoffs, similar to the Vikings.

Stay tuned.