2023 NFL divisional round playoffs: Mike McCarthy didn't know Cowboys are underdogs vs. 49ers
San Francisco is favored over Dallas by 4 points

If you head over to Caesars Sportsbook, you'll see that for this Sunday's divisional round matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, the 49ers have been installed as 4-point favorites. That means the oddsmakers expect it to be a close game, but for San Francisco to win.
The Niners are the home team, they went 13-4 during the regular season, they have won 11 consecutive games, and they are coming off a destruction of the division rival Seattle Seahawks on Super Wild Card Weekend, so it makes sense that they're (slight) favorites. Just don't tell Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy about that, as he apparently did not know his team was an underdog heading into this weekend.
"We're the underdog? By 4? Wow. OK," McCarthy said during a radio appearance, per The Athletic. "Divisional round, so, no, we're very confident. I think there's an underdog in all of us as you thrive and strive through this business."
Around this time last year (actually a week earlier, but pretty much the same time), the Cowboys were the ones hosting the 49ers for a playoff game, and they were the favorites. We all know what happened: the Niners came into AT&T Stadium and ate the Cowboys' lunch, advancing to the divisional round, and eventually, the NFC title game. McCarthy wants to return the favor.
"We're very comfortable in this position," he said. "We're clearly going there expecting to win."
The Cowboys are coming off one of their best performances of the season in a double-digit road victory over the NFC South champion Buccaneers, a game in which Dak Prescott played one of the best games of his career. He struggled in last year's loss to San Francisco, and will need to put together a performance much closer to the one we saw from him last week than the one we saw last year if the Cowboys are going to pull off the upset this time around.
















