Eagles Vs. 49ers: NFL Playoffs Wild Card Round Preview

PHILADELPHIA, PA — It's been a chaotic ride through a regular season full of highs and lows, breakouts and disappointments, with mostly elite defense and often-struggling offense, but despite all the naysaying and Philly's characteristic doomsday sports outlook, the Eagles have reached the playoffs as one of the NFC's top seeds.

They have a brutal first round matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. But then again, so does most of the NFL. Parity in the 2025 season has resulted in at least eight and perhaps more legitimate Super Bowl contenders, making the opening Wild Card round even more thrilling.

Here's what to know ahead of this weekend's big game.

Time, date, TV

The Birds will host the Niners on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 4:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field in south Philadelphia. The game will be broadcast on Fox and on 94WIP sports radio.

The opponent

The Eagles ended the season at 11-6 and as champions of the NFC East. NFL playoff seeding awards the top four seeds to division winners, giving the Eagles the third seed despite only having the conference's fifth best record.

One of the teams that finished with a better record this year is their opponent Sunday. The Niners went 12-5 on the season but only finished third in a stacked NFC West, placing them as the sixth seed in the NFC. Demonstrating how close and wide open the NFC is this year, if the Niners had beaten the Seattle Seahawks last weekend, they would've clinched the first seed, and the Eagles would be playing Seattle or Los Angeles instead.

The Eagles are 1-2 against the Niners in the Nick Siranni-Jalen Hurts era, having lost both regular season matchups in 2023 and 2021. But as Eagles fans surely remember, the Eagles one win against the Niners in the last five years came in the 2023 NFC championship.

Alongside the Eagles, the Niners are one of the most dominant franchises in the NFL over the past decade or so. Since 2019, the Niners have been to two Super Bowls (they lost both) and two other conference championship games (they lost both). Despite not getting over the hump, four conference championship appearances in six years is impressive. Like the Birds, the Niners are experienced with the big moment.

San Francisco looked destined to snatch the division, winning six straight to end the season until losing the finale to Seattle, scoring only 3 points and leading many to wonder if they'll be similarly stifled by the Philly defense.

How the Birds got here

Much like the Chiefs before them, the Eagles under Sirianni have mastered the art of winning the close game. It's brought them two Super Bowl appearances in four playoff years and a fairly ridiculous 59-26 record in five regular seasons.

But whether you call it clutch playing or just good luck, it caught up to the Birds a bit this year, resulting in a few close losses that left fans shaking their heads at missed opportunities.

It's easy to look at the Eagles season and say they "should" be 13-4 or 12-5, but they could also be 9-8. Perhaps it's some comfort to know that even if they had finished 9-8, they'd still be the third seed, and even if they'd finished 13-4, they'd only be the second seed and would still have a tough first round matchup against Green Bay. The belief that Green Bay would be a similarly difficult opponent to San Francisco, which is admittedly a very controversial one, is why Siranni benched his starters in last week's loss to Washington and did not attempt to get the final win in order to clinch the second seed.

Still, the Birds are the defending champions with most of the same essential pieces that steamrolled the entire NFL just a year ago. They have more experience on the big stage than anybody, they won't be overwhelmed by the moment, and they don't want a Wild Card game win, they want another Super Bowl ring.

What to watch

The Eagles know that their defense can limit just about anybody, though they will be tested by San Fran's elite passing game, which led the NFL in yards in 2025, and by Christian McCaffrey, one of the best backs in the game. Still, the chief concern, and probably the key to the game, is which version of the Philly offense we'll see Sunday.

The Birds attack has shown flashes of brilliance. Saquon Barkley is just a year removed from an MVP-caliber season. When Hurts puts the pieces together, he's as good as anyone. The Eagles receiving corps are elite. But shaky execution and unforced errors have been most of the reason the Birds are a three seed and "just" part of a very good pack this year, and not an unquestioned Super Bowl favorite.

Odds

The Eagles are the betting favorites on Sunday, with minus 4.5 on the spread as of Tuesday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. They're also minus 220 favorites on Moneyline.

That's changed notably since the books opened Sunday, as the Eagles opened at just minus 2.5.