Time Warner Cable thinks Cowboys-Giants is Super Bowl XLVII

Logic — and league rules — have been thrown to the wind, as the Cowboys and Giants battle in a Super Bowl from five years ago in Week 1.

Well, this was an interesting mistake. Time Warner customers may have noticed a small yet glaring error on their channel guide.

Tonight’s week one matchup between NFC East rivals Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants was listed as “Super Bowl XLVII.” The description, date, and just about everything else is correct, but the poor intern who typed the title just had his head in the clouds.

You may remember that this particular game was between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. In only his second season as an NFL head coach, Jim Harbaugh took the 49ers to the Super Bowl, where he faced his brother John Harbaugh’s Ravens.

Looking back, this was the peak of both teams, but the 49ers suffered a much steeper decline than their adversaries. The season following their crushing defeat, San Francisco came up one play short of beating the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game and advancing to another Super Bowl. The season after however, the 49ers finished 8-8 and fired Jim Harbaugh for reasons that still can’t be explained.

As for the Ravens, they also peaked after this game. If you’ll recall, Super Bowl 47 was the last game in the hall of fame career of Ray Lewis and the last game Ed Reed ever played for the Ravens. Suffering from the sudden departure of two franchise cornerstones, the Ravens fell to 8-8 the next season, and for the first time in his head coaching career, John Harbaugh missed the playoffs.

Since then, the Ravens have only finished with more than 8 wins and made the playoffs once. The answer to the perennial question “Is Joe Flacco elite?” has become clear. At least the defense is still solid, though.

Next: Top 10 Super Bowls of all-time

If you were hoping this mishap was a sign of things to come, you probably forgot that a Giants-Cowboys matchup in the Super Bowl is literally impossible, since they’re both in the NFC. We could see them face of in the NFC Championship game though, and it might happen sooner rather than later given the strength of both teams.