Is it Sunday yet?
Eagles fans everywhere are counting down the minutes until the Birds host the 49ers in South Philadelphia on late Sunday afternoon. Despite an up-and-down season, the Eagles certainly still have the ability to go on another Super Bowl run.
Before then, however, I’m going to look back on the Eagles’ playoff history against the 49ers. They’ve met twice previously: once in San Francisco and once in Philly, with the home team advancing each time.
Let’s turn back the clock…
1996 Wild Card Game: 49ers 14, Eagles 0
I was two going
on three years old at the time, so, naturally, I didn’t watch this game, but I did watch a highlight package from it on the NFL Throwback YouTube channel.
It was a messy, rainy, muddy day in the Bay. San Francisco was two years removed from winning a Super Bowl and still possessed that Steve Young-Jerry Rice firepower even in the elements. Young was his classic dual-threat self, throwing for a touchdown while rushing for 65 yards and another score.
The Eagles had two great in-prime skill position players in Ricky Watters and Irving Fryar and a secondary that would one day reach great heights in Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor and rookie Brian Dawkins, but they appeared so thoroughly out-matched from the jump.
This Birds team is maybe the worst playoff squad in franchise history? For the 21st century, the 2021 team wasn’t that good, but you could at least squint and see that the future would be bright. 29-year-old Ty Detmer started this game for the Eagles! They weren’t winning anything then or in the immediate future. I’m always of the mindset to thank the gridiron gods for playoff football and figure things out later, but this team was going nowhere fast.
San Francisco would go on to lose to the eventual Super Bowl champion Packers the following week in the Divisional Round.
2022 NFC Championship Game: Eagles 31, 49ers 7
This game will forever be known, rather controversially, as the one in which the Eagles’ defense knocked out 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy in the first quarter with an elbow injury on a strip sack from Birds pass-rusher Haason Reddick. San Francisco would have to turn to journeyman Josh Johnson as their signal-caller before he exited the game due to injury as well, spurring a rule change across the NFL about emergency third quarters that can be chalked up to the 49ers ultimately be ill-prepared and doing little to prevent their quarterbacks from a fierce Eagles pass rush.
The Birds controlled the game and the clock from the second quarter on, punching it in with four rushing touchdowns: two from Miles Sanders, one from Boston Scott and one from Jalen Hurts. With a disastrous quarterback situation playing out, San Francisco could do nothing offensively against an Eagles defense that continuously feasted against subpar QBs.
The Eagles convincingly advanced to the Super Bowl, where they would, unfortunately, fall to Kansas City 38-35. The Birds, however, would get their revenge two years later in a blowout victory over the Chiefs.
The 49ers talked so much smack after this loss and while not all of those guys are still with the team, it leaves some bad blood for sure when it comes to how Eagles fans feel about this San Francisco squad. I’m juiced up for this game and you should be as well. Let’s make it to kickoff in one piece and let the Birds take over!
