The San Francisco 49ers were one victory away from the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and a bye through Super Wild Card Weekend, but their road back to the Super Bowl is considerably more difficult following a loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 18.
Instead of a week off to rest, heal and prepare for the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, the sixth-seeded 49ers will head to Lincoln Financial Field to square off against the No. 3 seed Philadelphia Eagles. The league has scheduled the game for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 11. It will air on Fox.
The Eagles opened as 3-point home favorites over the 49ers on Sunday night, per DraftKings Sportsbook, though that line jumped to 3.5 points within a few hours of listing.
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San Francisco fielded the seventh-ranked offense in the NFL this season, while Philadelphia can lay claim to the 13th-best defense in the league. It should be those two units that ultimately decide the outcome in a game that would be essentially a coin flip were it played on a neutral site, based on the opening betting line.
The Eagles (2022, 2024) and 49ers (2023) have combined to win the conference in each of the past three postseasons, representing the NFC in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs all three times. Philadelphia bested San Francisco in the conference title game in 2022 before losing to Kansas City in the championship contest.
The 49ers also lost to the Chiefs in 2023 before the Eagles finally dethroned quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid last February in the most recent Super Bowl.
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