When the Dallas Cowboys take on the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10, the matchup will present one of the toughest the Cowboys have faced this season.

Entering this contest, the Niners are without a doubt one of the best teams in the NFL as they sit with a 7-1 record and atop the NFC West, one of the best divisions in the league.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys have had difficulties beating some of the league's bottom-feeders this season, as we saw in Week 9, and that does not bode well for their chances versus San Francisco.

Even owner Jerry Jones admitted his team faces a tough task in this contest on Sunday.

"And overall, we’re not playing very good. And we’re sure going to have to take what we’ve done over the last several weeks, put the best parts of it together, because we’ve got a real challenge coming up this weekend with San Francisco," Jones said.

Now, a look at everything the Cowboys have to fear about the 49ers ahead of their Week 10 matchup at in Dallas.

49ers' motion

There has been a lot of talk about the Cowboys' lack of motion on offense this season, but we haven't seen much attention paid to how bad Dallas' defense is against motion.

The Cowboys have allowed +0.11 EPA (expected points added) per play against motion this season, which ranks dead last, according to DLLS Cowboys' John Andersen.

Meanwhile, the 49ers have used motion on a whopping 71.5% of offensive plays this season, the highest rate in the NFL.

As if the Cowboys' putrid defense didn't have enough to worry about, add this onto the list.

San Francisco's RB duo

The Cowboys enter this game against the 49ers with the second-worst run defense in the NFL, with Dallas defense giving up a ridiculous 147.4 rushing yards per game.

Knowing that, the 49ers present a nightmare matchup, with San Francisco sporting the seventh-best rushing attack in the league.

Everyone knows how good Christian McCaffrey is and that hasn't changed this season. But the Niners actually have a very good one-two punch with rookie Kaelon Black, who is ripping off an impressive 4.5 yards per carry.

Just because McCaffrey isn't on the field, don't think the Cowboys are going to be catching a break. Black has been a fantastic option to spell McCaffrey in 2026.

49ers' defense

The Niners have been good at stopping both the pass and run in 2026. San Francisco enters this game ranked eighth against the pass, second against the run and sixth in points allowed.

The Niners have also done a good job taking the football away, as evidenced by their 12 takeaways (six interceptions, six fumbles recovered), which rank tied for ninth-most.

One positive for the Cowboys is the Niners blitz at an average rate, which is notable because Dallas has had issues handling the blitz. The Niners also don't have a potent pass-rush with their 15 sacks and 72 pressures, which rank as the fifth- and tied for the 15th-fewest in the NFL.

But clearly that has not prevented San Francisco from playing defense at a high level. The Cowboys are going to need a lot of points to make up for what we suspect will be another terrible defensive showing and that's a major problem in a matchup against a top-notch defense like the Niners'.