January 06, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Will 49ers QB Brock Purdy be able to make it through the entire game against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles?
It's do-or-die time for the Eagles, and for everyone else still alive in the NFL Playoffs.
The Birds are set to battle the 49ers on Sunday in an NFC Wild Card matchup, continuing what's been a fascinating rivalry over the past few years.
The Eagles and Niners have met three times in the Nick Sirianni/Jalen Hurts era, with the Niners winning both regular-season games but the Eagles destroying San Fran in the 2002 NFC Championship, 31-7. The Niners exacted some revenge in 2023, bludgeoning the Eagles at the Linc, 31-7, starting the Eagles' infamous late-season collapse while the Niners went to the Super Bowl.
This year, the Eagles enter the game with an unquestionably better roster but the Niners have been far more consistent offensively and have played fairly decent defense given their litany of season-ending injuries, which includes Fred Warner, Nick Bosa and first-round pick Mykel Williams.
So, who's it gonna be?
| Sportsbook | Spread | Money Line | Total O/U |
| DraftKings | PHI -4.5 | SF +190 PHI -230 | 44.5 |
| FanDuel | PHI -4.5 | SF +188 PHI -220 | 44.5 |
| BetRivers | PHI -4.5 | SF +188 PHI -240 | 45 |
| BetMGM | PHI -4.5 | SF +180 PHI -220 | 45 |
| Caesers | PHI -4.5 | SF +184 PHI -225 | 45 |
The 49ers' offense was on fire near the end of the season, as San Fran had a six-game winning streak during which they scored 36.7 points per game. And then they got hammered by the Seahawks Week 18 in a 13-3 game that wasn't as close as the score might indicate.
Their offense was a weird study this week. They score points, but when you drill down on some specific areas of their offense, they don't feel super impressive. For example, Christian McCaffrey was second in the NFL in yards from scrimmage, and yet he averaged just 3.8 yards per carry and had his worst broken tackle stats of his career. Also, they love working the middle of the field, which would have been a good thing in years past against the Eagles, but not anymore with the Eagles' star power at linebacker and in slot corner Cooper DeJean.
On the other side of the ball, the injury-depleted 49ers can't rush the passer, they're coming off one of the worst tackling performances of the entire season (league-wide), their small corners are theoretically bad matchups for the Eagles' receivers, and the Eagles are rested while the 49ers were on the wrong end of a physical beatdown a last Saturday against the Seahawks.
The Eagles' offense has been extremely disappointing this season, but they got an ideal first-round matchup. Close game, Eagles win, unsatisfyingly.....
MORE: 5 things to watch when the 49ers have the ball
The over-under for the game is between 44.5-45 points, which means the sportsbooks think it'll be a low-scoring affair. I tend to agree. If the game is at that number or lower, which I think it will be, the Eagles should win, and probbaly by double digits. If the Niners are without LT Trent Williams and WR Ricky Pearsall, it'll be really difficult for them to move the ball.
But if the Niners are healthier than anticipated or move the ball better than expected against Vic Fangio's defense, and if the Niners find their groove and find the end zone a couple of times, a game played in the 50s would favor them. I don't trust the Eagles' offense to win a shootout.
It's doubtful that it'll come to a shootout, though, so the Eagles should advance to the Divisional Round and they'll hope that they're either headed to Chicago or back at home against the Panthers.
Let me begin my prediction with a quote from Winston Churchill. Just bear with me, there's a point to this.
The British Prime Minister once said, "Democracy is the worst form of Government... except for all those other forms."
The Eagles are the worst, but everyone else is more worse.
No one in this NFC playoff field, save for maybe the Rams — whom the Eagles have already beaten this season — really strikes me as a threat to the defending Super Bowl champs. They are flawed. They are excruciatingly frustrating at times. But the Niners are more flawed.
I think the Eagles will look like the Eagles, we'll see the same issues that have plagued this team all season long, and then they'll find a way to win like they always seem to. Don't discount the confidence and calm that comes from having experience in the postseason. No NFC team has more than the Eagles do.
If you'd have asked me after the Niners' win over the Bears, when San Francisco went off for 42 points to win an offensive shootout, I would've been real worried.
But ask me now after the Niners wrapped Week 18 against the Seahawks by getting completely shut down, I actually feel pretty good about the Eagles' chances here – or at least good enough.
For me, it comes down to this: The Eagles' defense is just way too good for Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey to handle, and the Niners are just way too banged up at this point.
I still don't have any belief in Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo's ability to put together a good and diverse offensive gameplan, but I do believe in Hurts, Barkley, Goedert, Brown, and Smith's abilities to will just enough of whatever they have into working to get just enough points on the board.
They can get by San Francisco like this, and maybe Green Bay if they get them again after, too. But in a possible rematch with Chicago, or up against L.A. or Seattle beyond that, I don't know. I doubt it.
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