The winner of the Cowboys-49ers game Sunday will be headed to the NFC Championship game, and its defensive coordinator could be bound for the Broncos.

If Sean Payton, the Broncos and the Saints can’t agree on a deal this week, then “D’’ should dominate.

Defensive duel: Dan vs. Demeco.

Dan Quinn is a 52-yearold veteran assistant and ex-head coach who has been to three Super Bowls with one victory. DeMeco Ryans, 38, is a former NFL linebacker for 10 seasons who has coached for six years and in one Super Bowl loss.

The Broncos interviewed Ryans Thursday and Quinn Friday. Both were inspiringly impressive in meetings with Broncos CEO Greg Penner and should become finalists with frontrunner Payton.

Who do Gary Kubiak, Wade Phillips, Kyle Shanahan, Elvis Dumervil, Brian Griese, Troy Calhoun, Mike Mcdaniel,

Matt Lafleur, J.J. Watt, Anthony Lynn, Reggie Herring, Bill Kollar, Rick Dennison, Nick Bosa, Alex Gibbs, Robert Saleh, Kareem Jackson and Rick Smith have in common? They coached with teams he played for, or were his teammates, or have coached with him in San Francisco, or, in the case of former Broncos assistant and Texans general manager Smith, drafted him.

Ryans who majored in management at Alabama, has a professional pedigree. He was a unanimous All-american with the Tide and the school’s male scholar-athlete and a three-time SEC all-academic selection, the NFL defensive rookie of the year and a two-time Pro Bowler with the Texans, a team captain, coach-in-waiting and the NFL Players’ Association representative with the Eagles.

As the second-season coordinator with the 49ers Ryans has produced the No. 1 defense in the league and is considered the top NFL assistant to be named a head coach.

In the aftermath of the Katrina disaster Ryans rallied the Alabama players to support sheltered survivors. Demeco says faith, family (a wife and three children), football are his priorities. Former Texans teammate Watt says Demeco will be an incredible head coach, and Shanahan says Demeco will be next head coach from his staff. More important, when Ryans was the youngest of four kids, his grandmother in Bessemer, Alabama, (near Birmingham) said Demeco would grow up to be a football coach.

Demeco’s NFL playing career – six years in Houston, four in Philadelphia – ended in 2015 after he tore his Achilles the season before.

When Shanahan became the 49ers head coach in 2017 he asked Ryans to return to football as quality control coach. Shanahan had been on the Texans staff when Smith drafted him in the second round, and Kubiak was the head coach. Phillips, renowned still in Denver, would be Ryans’ defensive coordinator, and Reggie Herring and Bill Kollar, who also were with Phillips on the Broncos’ latest Super Bowl victory staff and recently retired, both coached Ryans in Houston. Alex Gibbs also was the Texans then. Dennison, Packers coach Lafleur, Air Force coach Calhoun, Dolphins coachmcdaniel and Jets coach Saleh were assistants then, too, in Houston. Ryans learned from the best.

He trained as linebackers coach on the 49ers staff under Shanahan and took over as coordinator when Saleh moved to the Jets. After his first season on the job in 2021, the Vikings interviewed Ryans for their head coaching vacancy and were fascinated enough they asked him for a second meeting. Ryans declined, choosing instead to stay in San Francisco, and the 49ers were first in the league in total yardage allowed (300.6 per game), rushing (77.7) and points permitted per game (16.3), tied for first in interceptions (20) and finished fifth in touchdowns given up (20).

The Broncos defense seemed exceptional until compared to the 49ers, who held opponents to 19 points or fewer in 13 regular-season games.

Experts hum Shanahan’s offense, but sing aloud about Ryan’s defense.

NFL commentator and former linebacker Takeo Spikes says of Ryans: “He is a leader of men. As a former player, he has an innate and keen understanding of the locker room, as well as the culture. He’s spent quality time under the tutelage of some of the best defensive minds (in) Wade Phillips and Robert Saleh.

Ryans seems like the Broncos’ best head coach – except for two problems. He also is interviewing with the Colts, the Cardinals and the Texans, and the Broncos have hired three consecutive first-time head coaches.

They bombed. Could Ryans be a boom?

The decision on Ryans could depend on Sunday’s game, a second interview in Denver, his choice and the Penner-payton Process.