Eagles-49ers matchups to watch in wild-card round
Eagles-49ers matchups to watch in wild-card round originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The No. 3-seeded Eagles (11-6) will host the No. 6-seeded 49ers (12-5) in an NFC wild-card round game on Sunday at the Linc.
Here are some key matchups to watch:
Vic Fangio vs. Kyle Shanahan
This is the most intriguing matchup of the week between two of the best at coordinating their respective sides of the ball in the NFL. Fangio and Shanahan are friends and Shanahan even tried to get Fangio to San Francisco to be his defensive coordinator in 2017. The Shanahan offense is a unique one that has evolved over the course of a few decades from his father Mike Shanahan in the 90s in Denver.
The 49ers had a late Week 14 bye week but then came back to score 37, 48 and 42 points in the three wins that followed. But then they were suffocated by the Seahawks in Week 18 in a 13-3 loss. The Eagles have that kind of ability on defense too but it won't be easy.
The 49ers vary their personnel groupings a ton and play more two-running back sets than any team in the NFL. They are in 21 personnel (2 RBs, 1 TE) on over 36% of their plays, which is by far the highest percentage in the NFL. They are in 22 personnel for an additional 8%. They really like to get fullback Kyle Juszczyk involved. On the flip side, they have one of the lowest percentages in 11 personnel in the NFL. So a big key to this game will be how the Eagles match those personnel groupings. The Seahawks were able to stay in their nickel defense and that really helped. You'd have to imagine the Eagles want to be able to do that too.
There's clearly a mutual respect between Fangio and Shanahan but they have faced off just four times. In those games - the last of which came in 2018 - Fangio's defense held Shanahan's offense to 11, 6, 15 and 9 points. But the personnel for both coaches was very different then.
Eagles run defense vs. Christian McCaffrey
Christian McCaffrey might not be at his peak anymore but he still had an excellent Pro Bowl season in 2025 with over 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. But he wasn't very explosive in the run game. The Eagles classify explosive runs as 10+ yards and McCaffrey had 27, which tied him for 9th in the NFL. That's not bad. But McCaffrey had just three runs of 20+ yards; 31 players had more. So the home run threat hasn't really been there.
The 49ers have always been an excellent rushing team under Shanahan and that's clearly what they want to be. But they just haven't been as dominant in that facet as you might expect. The 49ers are 15th in EPA/rush and are 17th in rushing success rate.The Niners were able to muster just 53 rushing yards against the Seahawks in Week 18, which is surprisingly not their lowest total of the season. The Texans held them to 48 in Week 8. So we've seen that elite defenses can shut down their rushing attack and the Eagles have an elite defense.
The Eagles will also have Nakobe Dean (hamstring) back for this game and that ought to help stop the 49ers' rushing attack. Since giving up 281 rushing yards to the Bears, the Eagles have really stabilized that portion of their defense. Excluding Week 18 with the backups, the Eagles gave up an average of 106.3 yards per game on the ground in the four weeks that followed the Bears game.
Eagles LBs, S vs. George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey
The 49ers no longer have Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. Their top receivers are Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall, who has been dealing with a PCL injury. If Pearsall plays, it'll give the 49ers a more explosive threat in their offense. Without him? They're going to rely heavily on tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey this season was targeted 129 times and had 102 catches for 924 yards (9.1) and 7 touchdowns. Kittle was targeted 69 times (in 11 games) and had 57 catches for 628 yards (11.0) and 7 touchdowns.
While McCaffrey and Kittle are obviously very good players, the Eagles have really good linebackers with Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean to be able to match up well against these two weapons. They also have solid play at safety with Reed Blankenship and Marcus Epps and an elite tackling nickel cornerback in Cooper DeJean.
The 49ers this season were middle of the pack in terms of yards after catch but it can be a really big part of their offense. They want to get these two guys in space to create, so it'll be important for the Eagles to continue to get off their blocks and be a solid tackling team.
Eagles pass rush vs. Brock Purdy
We've seen in this city how the discourse about a quarterback can sometimes go off the rails. That has obviously happened in Brock Purdy's career at times. But he's a good quarterback and has been good this season in the nine games he has played. Purdy this season has completed 69.4% of his passes for 2,167 yards with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
He has been very good at avoiding sacks too. Purdy has been pressured on 34.9% of his dropbacks but has been brought down just 11 times. His average time-to-throw of 3.17 seconds is second in the NFL behind just Caleb Williams at 3.20 seconds. Purdy is working hard to create plays out of structure and extend plays. The Eagles have to be aware of this as they face him on Sunday.
Purdy this season has an interception rate of 3.5, which is the fifth-highest rate in the NFL this season among the 36 quarterbacks with at least 200 pass attempts. The only players above him are J.J. McCarthy (4.9%), Shedeur Sanders (4.7%), Tua Tagovailoa (3.9%) and Geno Smith (3.8%). Purdy has 11 turnover-worthy-plays in 9 games. That TWP% of 3.3% ranks 13th out of 36 QBs with at least 250 dropbacks. So Purdy will put the ball in harm's way and it'll be up to the Eagles to take it away.
Saquon Barkley vs. 49ers run defense
The Eagles desperately want to be a running team and they just weren't able to lean on that all season. In 2024, the Eagles were a fantastic running team and paved the way for Saquon Barkley to rush for 2,000 yards. It has been more of a slog for most of the 2025 season. Barkley still ended up rushing for 1,140 yards and 8 touchdowns. But his average in 2025 dropped to 4.1 yards per attempt from 5.8 during last season.
The 49ers this season were 11th in overall run defense but were 10th in yards-per-attempt (4.3) and were 19th in EPA/run (-0.03). This is basically a middle-of-the-pack run defense but the 49ers have also been decimated by injuries at the linebacker position.
While Barkley's numbers are way down this season, it seems more likely that it has been a result of shaky offensive line play than a drop-off from Barkley himself. The hope here has to be that the offensive line is healthier after getting a chance to rest some in Week 18 and with Lane Johnson (foot) hopefully back on the field.
Jalen Hurts vs. defense that lacks pass rush
The 49ers' defense just doesn't have much pass-rush juice without Nick Bosa, who has been out with a torn ACL since September. The 49ers were dead last in the NFL in sacks this season with 20 and were 30th in the NFL in pressures with 169. That was good for a pressure rate of 26.7%, which ranked 31st in the NFL.
Former Eagle Bryce Huff was tied for the 49ers' team lead in sacks with 4 after going sack-less in the final eight games. Clelin Ferrell also had 4 sacks in 8 games this season.
Here are Hurts numbers under pressure and when not pressured:
Under pressure: 50.8%, 863 yards, 6 TDs, 3 INTs, 78.9 rating
Not pressured: 70.1%, 2,361 yards, 19 TDs, 3 INTs, 106.0 rating
The Eagles' offense has obviously sputtered for most of this season but that side of the ball is clearly talented enough to make big plays in the playoffs against a weak defense. The 49ers have the No. 25-ranked pass defense in the league this year but they don't give up many huge chunks.
Despite giving up 232.4 yards per game, the 49ers have given up just 5 passing plays of 40+ yards this season. Just four teams in the league have given up fewer this season. They've been good at keeping the action in front of them. So how do you attack a defense like that? The Eagles like to take their shots and Hurts has the ability to hit deep balls. Basically, the Eagles have to pick their spots to take shots whenever they get a favorable look. And when they get those opportunities, they have to make the most of them.
Dallas Goedert vs. backup linebackers
The 49ers have been decimated at the linebacker position this season. San Francisco is holding out hope that Fred Warner (ankle) might be able to return if the 49ers go on a deep run, he won't be back this week. And then Tatum Bethune was lost for the playoffs with a torn groin, while Dee Winters (ankle) and Luke Gifford (quadriceps) might also miss Sunday's game. The 49ers will have to turn to veteran Eric Kendricks, who was just signed in late November. And then this week, the 49ers signed veteran (and former Eagle) Kyzir White.
With the 49ers' linebacker situation, it would probably make a ton of sense to attack a potential weakness in the middle of their defense.
You have to be careful," offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said. You don't just chase it, right? You have to really just be in tune with what you want to do and what their scheme is about. Maybe not so much players at times. You can do some things, but you have to be careful you don't push all into that because, ultimately, they're going to do what they need to help their players as well with their scheme. So, if they feel like they need to change, they may adapt, too. So, you just have to be careful with that."
And it's worth noting that when the Eagles played the Bears in Week 13, Chicago was without their starting linebackers and Dallas Goedert didn't have a big game. Goedert had just 2 catches for 27 yards on 4 targets in that game. But Goedert should be healthy going into the playoffs after sitting out in Week 18 and it would make sense to get him involved.
Eagles receivers vs. young cornerbacks
Like we mentioned, the 49ers' pass defense has been below average this season. Their top cornerback is veteran Deommodore Lenoir, who signed a five-year, $88 million extension last November. Lenoir this season has been targeted 62 times, giving up just 37 catches for 356 yards with 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
The 49ers start Renardo Green on the other side and rookie Upton Stout in the slot. Stout was a third-round pick out of Western Kentucky and earned that starting job.
This group of 49ers corners is solid but the Eagles should still obviously have an advantage with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, who each quietly had 1,000-yard seasons in 2025.
Bonus: Eagles kickoff vs. 49ers kick return
The 49ers are a good kick returning team with an average of 27.2 yards per return this season, which ranks 7th in the NFL. To put that into perspective, the Eagles are 30th in the NFL this season at 23.9 yards per return.
Skyy Moore is a dangerous returner the Niners acquired from the Chiefs in August. Moore has been returning punts and kicks for San Francisco all season. He has 25 punt returns for an average of 11.6. Moore and Brian Robinson Jr. are their kick returners. Moore is averaging 27.5 with a long of 98 and Robinson is averaging 29.1 with a long of 46.
Yeah, they throw a couple wrinkles in there, try to get your eyes going the wrong way, or you think you're the free runner, the trap block coming throughout the way," Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. So we have to be real disciplined in just understanding formations. It's always the old adage, if you're running down the field by yourself, it's probably not a reason you're running down by yourself on blocks. Somebody's going to come with the trap block.
Then they have two good returners from the kickoff return standpoint, Brian Robinson [going] north and south, he's going to fall forward, he is going to push the pile. Then Skyy Moore, he has the speed, he has the quickness to make people miss. So we got our work cut out."