The Philadelphia Eagles may not have looked pretty or as dominant as they were last year for big chunks of the 2025 season, but Nick Sirianni has managed to pilot this team to 11 wins, another NFC East title, and a home playoff game in a very winnable NFC.
After the Eagles lost to the Washington Commanders in Week 18, Philly locked themselves into the No. 3 seed in the NFC. Following another Week 18 defeat that led to them missing out on the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers are now locked in as the Eagles' next opponent.
A few years ago, the Eagles dominated San Francisco in the NFC Championship game, though San Francisco fans will claim they didn't have a shot after both of their active quarterbacks were lost due to injury. They will get a chance to avenge that loss on Philly's hostile turf this week.
Will the 49ers be able to get their revenge against a wounded Eagles team, or will Philadelphia lean on its star power and run roughshod over San Francisco as they try to jump-start yet another playoff run as part of their championship defense?
TV channel and start time for Eagles' playoff matchup with 49ers
The Eagles and 49ers will lock horns on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX. The Eagles are getting a prime spot, as the postseason history between these two teams is already well-documented after the 2022 NFC Championship game.
The 49ers may have scored just three points in Week 18, and their defense doesn't have Nick Bosa or Fred Warner on it. However, with Kyle Shanahan's offensive mind still getting a ton out of Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy playing some of the best ball of his career, San Francisco can't be overlooked.
For the Eagles to win and continue to advance, the ground game needs to take advantage of a 49ers' defensive line that is both young and inexperienced. Vic Fangio will need to cook up a gameplan that limits McCaffrey and forces a weak wide receiver room to make some plays against this secondary.
Philadelphia has as good a chance as any team in the league of making to the Super Bowl this season, and the first step of that journey will be disposing of a 49ers team that has some very clear holes for this coaching staff to exploit.