NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME / SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 38, DALLAS COWBOYS 28 : Dallas Dynasty Shows First Signs of Crumbling

Charles Haley stood before his teammates and announced he was quitting, while Emmitt Smith walked bowlegged to his locker, shifting the pain from left hamstring to right. A mud-caked Troy Aikman stood to the side, still shaking his head in disbelief, while Alvin Harper wondered aloud why his number had been called but twice all day. Michael Irvin had set a team post-season record with 12 catches for 192 yards, but he was wearing sunglasses to hide his disappointment.

Down the hall in the media room, Coach Barry Switzer berated the officials for their alleged display of favoritism.

Dallas took defeat hard, real hard, and while it was willing to credit San Francisco for its 38-28 NFC championship victory, Cowboy owner Jerry Jones defiantly announced: “There is nothing we need to change to beat the 49ers.”

But what if Jimmy Johnson had remained as head coach?

“This team has proved it can handle as many distractions as you want to heap upon it,” Jones said. “I chose to make that decision and I’m not going to second-guess it.”

The 49ers found revenge, though, and sent the Cowboys packing, ending Dallas’ bid to become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. After losing the past two NFC championship games to the Cowboys, the 49ers spent the past year preparing their roster for this day.

James Washington was one of the last Cowboys to leave the field. A free agent now, he’s not sure he will return to play for Dallas.

“Does this hurt?” Washington repeated. “My mother died four weeks ago, and that hurt. I was divorced five weeks ago, and that hurt. This doesn’t hurt; it’s just disappointing. We had a great team, and they had a great team, but somebody had to lose. I know the 49ers will have a good time in the Super Bowl; my only regret is that Ken Norton will get his third Super Bowl ring.

“Looking at this game, the Super Bowl is a done deal.”

Norton, the former Cowboy linebacker who took advantage of free agency to sign with the 49ers, just might have started a trend. The Cowboys will enter this off-season with 18 free agents, and the Dallas dynasty might have made its last stand in Candlestick Park Sunday.

“It’s going to be hard to build a dynasty,” Harper said. “The Cowboys are going to lose a lot of key players, including myself. The money is just not going to be there.

“For me, it just hurts real bad, because I didn’t want to go out a loser. I wanted to go to the Super Bowl, win and then go out and test the free-agent market.”

The 49ers tapped the free-agent market and hired cornerback Deion Sanders. Sanders’ assignment against the Cowboys was to shut down Harper, who had hurt San Francisco in the past with big plays.

“The coaching staff just wouldn’t call my number,” Harper said. “I just went deep and took the coverage with me. The coaches just didn’t give me the chance to make the big play.”

The Cowboys needed the big play too, after falling behind, 21-0, in the first quarter. They fought back to make it 31-21 in the third quarter, but the 49ers put the game away in the third quarter with a 70-yard drive in 10 plays.

“People are going to say things, but Jimmy Johnson’s departure had nothing to do with this,” Washington said. “Jimmy’s not throwing passes or catching them. You just can’t win big games like this by falling so far behind; all the defensive plays we worked on this week went to waste after that.”

While the 49ers celebrated, Haley had asked to speak to his Cowboy teammates after Switzer’s postgame speech. The former 49er advised all that he would no longer play football.

“I believe him,” said Jones, while intimating that he knew what Haley was going to say before the game. “I’m just glad we were able to get the three fine years we got from Charles.”

Switzer suggested the Cowboys were at a disadvantage because the officials allowed Sanders to mug Dallas receivers without drawing a penalty. He also blamed the Cowboys’ poor kicking game, which included a missed 27-yard field goal, on a muddy field.

“That’s a disgrace to play championship football on a field like that,” Switzer said. “Why didn’t the league do something about that?”

The 49ers took advantage of an interception and two fumbles to establish the early advantage. “Giving San Francisco a 21-point lead is liking spotting Carl Lewis 20 yards in the 100-yard dash,” Smith said.

The Cowboys kept coming back, proving champions die hard, but two weeks from now San Francisco and San Diego will play in Super Bowl XXIX.

“When I’m 60 and I tell my grandchildren about this team,” Irvin said, “I will tell them with pride about a team that just kept bouncing back. But let me tell you this, losing’s rough.”

The Cowboys dominated football the past two seasons in large part because of the effective work of Smith, their workhorse. But in the past few weeks, they had to win with Smith hurting.

Smith, who re-injured his left hamstring in last week’s playoff victory over Green Bay, said he felt his leg was 90%-95% against the 49ers, although he did feel pain at times. After gaining 74 yards on 20 carries, however, he was forced out of the game after injuring his right hamstring.

Aikman, who played the role of Superman in previous postseason competition, took a beating in trying to overcome a 21-point deficit. He completed 30 of 53 passes for 380 yards with two touchdowns, but also had three interceptions.

“It was my first loss in the playoffs,” Aikman said. “We came in here as champs, and we were the champs until proven otherwise. Today it was proven otherwise.”

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Third Time Is No Charm

The Dallas Cowboys are the sixth team to fail to win the Super Bowl three consecutive times. A list of the teams and their result in third attempt:

Team Super Bowls Third Year Green Bay I-II Failed to Qualify Miami VII-VIII Lost Divisional Playoff Pittsburgh IX-X Lost AFC Championship Game Pittsburgh XIII-XIV Failed to Qualify San Francisco XXIII-XXIV Lost NFC Championship Game Dallas XXVII-XXVIII Lost NFC Championship Game