49ers Defeat the Defending Champion Eagles 23-19 In Wild Card Thriller
The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 23-19 in the NFC Wild Card Round on Sunday. The Eagles had an opportunity late to go ahead in this game late but fell short on an incompletion over the middle to Dallas Goedert, deflected by Eric Kendricks with 33 seconds left to send the 49ers to Seattle for the Divisional Round.
The NFC West rivalry will be restored next week up in the Pacific Northwest with a great matchup between the 49ers and Seahawks, while the former defending champion Eagles will now be at home watching the playoffs, having to have some answers to some important questions for the offensive side of the ball this offseason. It will be an interesting fork in the road for the Eagles. Anyway, let’s dive into this game.
Final Score and Game Summary
First Half
The Eagles actually had control of this game in the first half, with 188 first-half yards and two touchdowns for a three-point lead. Goedert was the star of the first half overall with a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown, but the Eagles had multiple opportunities to blow this game open, but couldn’t convert. Meanwhile, the 49ers had a great opening drive but stalled for most of the remainder of the first half, especially when star tight end George Kittle suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the first half of this game.
Second Half
Philadelphia only had 36 yards of offense in the third quarter of this game, which was the determining factor in this game because San Francisco was able to gain confidence to keep them in fighting distance, and it led to the huge turning point play of this game, which was the Juan Jennings touchdown pass to Christian McCaffery on that trick play on the first play on the fourth quarter. That was the biggest momentum switch of the game because it fully gave San Francisco the confidence to close the game later on with the McCaffery touchdown late in the game to essentially give the final blow to Philadelphia’s season.
Philadelphia’s inconsistency in getting their star-studded offense going more this season would end up costing them their chance at repeating because that Second Half was a horrendous example of play calling, and second-half execution should see the firing of Kevin Patullo in the offseason and the mismanagement of that late drive situation at the end of the game calling a timeout when they could have had another opportunity if they kept all three timeouts.
Key Performers
San Francisco 49ers
- Christian McCaffery: 114 all-purpose yards in this game, and those two receiving touchdowns. McCaffery was the focus of San Francisco’s offense as he should have been, and when he was able to finally get some space in the second half of this game, he was the key difference maker of this game that Philadelphia couldn’t let get going, but did.
- Demarcus Robinson: had six receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown
- Juan Jennings: 29-yard touchdown pass and a 45-yard reception
- Brock Purdy: 18-for-31, 262 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions
- Eric Kendricks: Game-winning pass breakup, 10 tackles, seven of them solo tackles
Philadelphia Eagles
- Quinyon Mitchell: Two interceptions after a lackluster opening drive of this game
- Saquon Barkley: 106 Rushing Yards
- Dallas Goedert: four receptions, 33 yards, a touchdown, and a rushing touchdown
- Jalen Hurts: 20-for-35, 168 yards and a touchdown
- Devonta Smith: eight receptions for 70 yards
Turning Point of the Game
That Jennings’ touchdown pass to McCaffery was a huge momentum swing in this game, as that play really deflated the Eagles fans in the stadium, as that was the play that really got the Niners going in this game late to pull off the upset. The play was a double reverse pass into a wheel route from McCaffery that Reed Blankenship inexplicably left McCaffery wide open on the play for whatever reason.
Stats That Mattered
- Total Yards: 49ers 361, Eagles 307
- Third Down Conversions: 49ers were 6-for-11 while the Eagles where 5-for-16
- Penalties: The 49ers had one for 15 yards, while the Eagles had seven for 48 yards
- Turnovers: San Francisco: 2 Philadelphia: 0
- Red-Zone Efficiency: Both teams were 2-for-3 in the red zone
Injury Update
George Kittle is out for the season now for the 49ers with the torn Achilles tendon, Kyle Shanahan confirmed after the game. That will be a devastating blow for this San Francisco offense moving forward.
Quotes and Reactions
Here are some examples of some of the reactions coming from Philadelphia fans and media after this loss…
Meanwhile, here are some reactions from the San Francisco side…
What This Means Going Forward
Starting with the Philadelphia, as I have said before, hopefully, they make some wholesale changes on the offensive side of the ball, starting with replacing the coordinator once again. And if Sirianni doesn’t want to fire Patullo, do what you did with Doug Pederson after the 2020 season and fire Sirianni as well. Because the offensive scheme needs a major overhaul of change in the offseason. Meanwhile, for San Francisco, they’ll get to have a date with Seattle in a rematch of the Week 18 game for the 1-seed in the Divisional round.
