January 11, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Quinyon Mitchell had quite the game Sunday in the Eagles' Wild Card loss, nabbing two interceptions and forcing a fumble.
Anyone who has watched the Eagles play their 17 regular season games had to have expected Sunday night's outcome.
An inconsistent, frustrating offense that has wasted its own elite NFL talent has also laid waste to one of the NFL's best defenses.
Very few, if any Eagles wins this season have left fans feeling good about their football team. A 23-19 loss that was as winnable as it gets against a reeling 49ers, is sadly a perfect summation of a season that had so much promise, with the Eagles playing pretty bad football and still winning their second straight NFC East title.
The autopsy for this football team will stretch well into the spring, but it starts with their failures in the NFC Wild Card.
Here are the three biggest reasons why the Eagles had such an early exit this postseason:
Big plays
Without Brandon Aiyuk, without Ricky Pearsall, and with George Kittle out with an ugly Achilles injury pretty early in this one, the Eagles defense — which is not the reason the Eagles lost — surrendered monster plays to no name players in this one.
The second play from scrimmage was a 61-yard catch and run to Demarcus Robinson that made the secondary look positively silly. The Eagles also allowed completions of 45 yards, 29 yards and 27 yards. This to an offense playing without Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle (who left early with an Achilles injury) and Rickey Pearsall.
Nothing was worse than the double-reverse trick play that saw Juwan Jennings find Christian McCaffrey for a touchdown to put the 49ers ahead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
JAUAN JENNINGS TD PASS TO CMC
— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2026
SFvsPHI on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/18VxTpTKgj
The Eagles' defense is excellent — and featured an All-Pro single-handedly creating three turnovers in this one — but not good enough to allow back-breaking plays like that and still win.
A.J. Brown drama returns
The Eagles' offense was rolling in the first half but it didn't carry over into the second half. And maybe it's because of A.J. Brown.
The mojo of the team completely shifted at the end of the second quarter, as the Eagles looked to land a big punch expecting to receive the ball to start the second half. Scripted deep balls to Brown — each of them seemingly catchable — were not hauled in by the star wideout and after the second one, he and head coach Nick Sirianni were going at it on the sideline.
Nick Sirianni and A.J. Brown with a heated exchange on the sidelines.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 11, 2026
(📺 FOX) pic.twitter.com/vDlLkM8uzu
Brown added another drop on third down late in the fourth quarter on a slant the Eagles needed to come back, trailing by four with two minutes to play. It was unacceptable (he was bailed by sure handed Dallas Goedert on fourth down).
Expect to hear more about Brown's fit with the team in the ensuing offseason.
Penalties
The Eagles were penalized for the fifth most yards during the regular season (1,073 of them) on 117 flags (10th most). It's not at all surprising that they were a huge part of the Eagles' struggles Sunday. Three particular penalties come to mind:
• A holding by Cam Jurgens that negated a first down run by Hurts, leading to a punt.
• A holding by Darius Cooper, which negated a first down run on a Saquon Barkley screen in the fourth quarter after getting great field position. The Niners would take the lead not soon after.
• A defensive hold by Reed Blankenship erased a sack of Brock Purdy in the red zone and gave the Niners a big first down.
The Eagles had seven penalties. The Niners had just one.
Also an unforced error but not a penalty, Jake Elliott missed an extra point early in this one and the Eagles lost by four. Had that point been secured, the Eagles would have been able to tie the game on their final drive to force overtime.
The Super Bowl champs, stocked with returning veterans and high draft picks, shot themselves in the foot time and time again. Is it bad coaching?
There will be lots of time to argue about the causes, and perhaps some turnover is necessary to make this team more competitive next season.
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