49ers pride themselves on toughness, but can they beat their toughest opponent in months?

SANTA CLARA — We’re about to find out if the 49ers are as tough as the image they project.

This year’s 49ers team is deeper and more versatile on both sides of the ball. And everything about the way they play screams physicality. The way the run the ball from scrimmage. The way their receivers run after the catch. The way those who aren’t carrying the ball are committed to blocking downfield. The way their defenders swarm tacklers to get everyone in the same frame of film.

In between giving Dallas its due Thursday as a worthy opponent, tight end George Kittle cut to the chase. Shanahan and Lynch won’t come out and say it, but the belief is that happens because teams that face the 49ers are the worse for wear because of having absorbed a beating. So yes, the 49ers were the better, tougher team but against a pretty easy schedule. The Cowboys will be the best opponent since Oct. 23, when Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs came to town andChristian McCaffrey had been a 49er for just two days at that point, and 11 consecutive wins against often suspect competition have followed. There’s something to be said for putting away inferior opponents, but it’s not what playoff football is about.

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