The postseason returned to South Philly with a familiar opponent, and this time, the ending didn’t go as planned.
For three years, San Francisco carried the weight of a “what if.” What if Brock Purdy had finished the NFC Championship Game? What if the offense had stayed intact? Sunday was their opportunity to answer it. They did.
All of the Eagles' struggles of the season reared their head. An offense that could not get going in the second half, a kicker who struggled to make fieldgoals or PATS consistently. Even the defense was exposed by a couple of big plays, including a trick play that went for a touchdown.
And just like that, what started as a promising season ends in failure.
Honorary Captain Fletcher Cox was on the field for the coin toss, which Philadelphia won and deferred to receive the kickoff in the second half, as has become standard.
San Francisco took the game's first kickoff to the 24-yard line, and following a 2-yard loss on a run, they hit on a 61-yard pass to Demarcus Robinson to the Philadelphia 16. A pass to McCaffrey took them down to the five, and a 2-yard pass, again to Robinson, scored the game's opening points for an early 7–0 SF 49ers lead.
Britian Covey took the Eagles' first kickoff, Philadelphia to the 37, and the Eagles' offense responded on the second play of the game with a 29-yard Saquon Barkley run to the Niners 32.
Fred Johnson left the field for one snap following the play, and Hurts hit his first pass attempt of the day to AJ Brown, good for 10 yards and an Eagles first down. Saquon picked up another first down, and three plays later, some razzle-dazzle with a 1-yard rushing TD from Dallas Goedert. Saquon had 45 yards on the opening drive.
Following a three-and-out by the Niners on their second possession, the Eagles picked up two first downs before giving up the ball on downs with an incompletion to DeVonta Smith on a 4th and 2 setting up the Niners at their 48-yard line. The first quarter ended 2 minutes later after another three-and-out by the 49ers and a punt down to the Eagles' 6-yard line.
The second quarter began with Saquon rushing for two first-downs on two carries, with a DeVonta Smith 9-yard catch sandwiched in between. A false start on third down put the Eagles behind the sticks, setting up a 3rd-and-15. A 14-yard pass to Smitty set up a 4th down and 1 from the 44, which the Eagles picked up via the beloved Tush Push.
Saquon had a 19-yard reception to take the ball to the San Francisco 30, and Tank Bigbsy ran for 4 yards on his first carry of the game, a play later. Tank followed it up with a 9-yard carry and then a 7-yard rush before giving way back to Saquon. Three carries for 20 yards and proving he has earned the touches. The Eagles ended the 16-play drive with a Jalen Hurts 9-yard td pass to Dallas Goedert, his second TD of the game, one via land, and this one by air. Birds with a 13–7 lead.
The Niners countered on the subsequent drive with a 45-yard pass to Jauan Jennings to get into Eagles territory, and three plays later they were stuffed on a 3rd and one, and after initially lining up to for it, they called a timeout and settled for a 36-yard field goal to make the score Eagles 13- Niners 10.
Philly took over from their own 35 following a touchback with 2:50 left in the half and gave it back with 1:51 left following a three-and-out. The game's first sack was by Jalen Carter and set up a third and 11 that the Niners picked up, followed by two additional first downs before their drive stalled at the Eagles' 37 as time expired. Eagles up 13–10 at the half.
The Eagles took the second-half kickoff and only moved the ball 8 yards before punting it to the Niners 5. San Francisco picked up three first downs before giving the ball back to Philly via an interception by Quinyon Mitchell. The game's first turnover. The Eagles' offense took over from their 48.
The drive started with Jalen Hurts picking up a would-be first down on a designed run that was negated by a penalty, setting the Birds back to 2nd and 18, which they were unable to recover from. They punted the ball into the end zone for a touchback. Which was followed up with a three-and-out by San Francisco as both offenses came out of the half looking stale.
The ensuing punt went only 25 yards, and the Birds got the ball at the Niners 46. They picked up the drive's initial 1st down via a Jalen Hurts keeper. Barkley carried the ball for their second set of fresh downs to get the ball to the 24, where the offense stalled, setting up a Jake Elliott 41-yard field goal. Eagles 10, Niners 10.
San Francisco’s next drive went into the fourth, where the first play of the quarter was a razzle-dazzle trick play dialed up by Kyle Shanahan for a 29-yard TD pass by Jauan Jennings to Christian McCaffrey that silenced the crowd and gave the Niners a 17–16 lead.
The offense struggled on the following drive, unable to score or even pick up a first down. They punted for the fourth time of the day. San Fran started their drive from their 31, but Purdy committed the game's second turnover, and Quinyon hauled in his second interception of the day. The Eagles took over at their 38.
Saquon took the first carry of the drive for 8 yards, and Hurts ran the second carry, which was good for a first down, and Philly gained another 15 yards after a personal foul for hitting him when he slid down, giving himself up. The former Giant took the next carry for 9 yards, and you could sense the offense and its running game gaining momentum.
The veteran left the game for a play after landing awkwardly on the next carry. Tyler Steen also left the game following the play.
Will Shipley hauled in a 6-yard reception while Barkley was out to get the ball to the 15, setting up Jaek Elliott’s 33-yard field goal to retake the lead 19–17 with eight minutes left.
The 49ers' offense was able to move the ball well via Brock’s arm and CMC's legs. They capped off the 77-yard drive with a 4-yard TD pass to CMC to take the lead 23–19 after their kicker missed the PAT.
The Eagles got the ball back with 2:54 left in the game and started their drive at the 35 following a touchback. The first pass went to Saquon, good for 3 yards; the second pass was also to Barkley, this time for 2 yards. On third and five, AJ Brown dropped a would-be first down. Fourth down, Hurts connected with Goedert for 15 yards to keep the season alive and take the game to the 2-minute warning.
After the break, DeVonta Smith hauled in a 10-yard first-down grab, and another play later, a good one for 15, setting up a first and ten from the 20. A rare drop by DeVonta Smith on third down during the game's final series set up a 4th and 11. The final pass was intended for Dallas Goedert, which was broken up by the Niners and ended the Eagles' hopes. SF won 23–19.
The Eagles had almost every advantage, home field, rest, experience, but they didn’t execute the way postseason football demands. They didn’t sustain drives, didn’t finish enough opportunities, and didn’t take control of the game.
This loss is about an offense that never fully unlocked and a defense asked to do too much for too long.
When you lose once in January, that’s the end of the road and the beginning of a lot of self-reflection. How could a team with this much talent have its season ended with a first-round knockout?
As always, thank you for reading!
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