25 things to know about the Eagles’ wild-card round opponent, the 49ers

The Eagles enter the playoffs as the NFC’s No. 3 seed. They could have been the No. 2 seed, but things didn’t quite work out that way.

They will open the playoffs at home against a 49ers team that is coming off a sloppy loss on Saturday in its third game in 13 days. San Fran’s offense scored just three points.

The Birds will have home-field advantage and an edge in playoff experience — at least defensively. Here are 25 things to know about the 49ers:

1. The Eagles and 49ers have met twice previously in the postseason. San Fran shut out the Birds, 14-0, in a muddy wild-card game at the old Candlestick Park after the 1996 season. Three years ago, the Eagles thumped San Fran, 31-7, in the conference championship game.

2. Niners quarterback Brock Purdy was a rookie that season. He got hurt on the first possession, and the 49ers had an uphill climb.

3. Coincidentally, he was replaced that day by Josh Johnson, who on Sunday led Washington to a win over the Eagles, which knocked the Eagles out of the conference’s No. 2 seed and set up the meeting next weekend with the 49ers. Small world.

4. The Birds opened as three-point favorites.

5. The 49ers entered Sunday 10th in the league in scoring offense, 12th in points allowed. The Eagles were 18th in scoring offense, third in points allowed.

» READ MORE: Grading the Eagles' loss to the Washington Commanders

6. Left tackle Trent Williams missed Saturday’s game against the Seahawks. He injured his hamstring on the first snap in Week 17 against Chicago. Williams, 37, spent his first nine seasons with Washington. He’s played 20 games against the Eagles. His teams are 9-11. He’s 5-5 at Lincoln Financial Field.

7. Williams is one of six Niners selected to the Pro Bowl. Running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, special teams ace Luke Gifford, and long snapper Jon Weeks are the others.

8. Juszczyk’s 10 Pro Bowl selections are the most ever for a fullback. Williams’ 12 Pro Bowls tie him with Will Shields and Randall McDaniel for second-most ever by an offensive lineman. Only Bruce Matthews (14) had more.

9. San Francisco’s top two reception leaders were McCaffrey (102) and Kittle (57). Their leader among wide receivers was Jauan Jennings (55). Jennings (in 2020) and Purdy (2022) were seventh-round draft picks of the 49ers.

10. Jennings apparently is a prolific trash talker who straddles the line of what’s acceptable. In Week 12, he was punched below the belt by Carolina defensive back Tre’von Moehrig. The following game, he got into a heated scuffle with some Cleveland Browns players.

11. “I see why he got punched in the nuts,” Cleveland defensive tackle Shelby Harris said. “He said some things that you should not say to another man, ever. … I’m surprised nobody punched him in the jaw yet.”

12. Purdy had been red-hot until Seattle shut him down in a 13-3 Seahawks win on Saturday. In the three games prior, he had 11 TD passes and two interceptions.

13. This will be Purdy’s seventh postseason start. He’s thrown one interception in 171 playoff passes, and San Fran is 4-2 with losses to the Eagles and the Chiefs.

14. Of the 49ers’ defensive group that started the season finale in Seattle, only linebacker Eric Kendricks, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, and safety Ji’Ayir Brown have ever started a playoff game.

15. Backup center Matt Hennessy played at Temple. He also plays special teams and has seen action in all 17 games this season. Hennessy, born in Nyack, N.Y., was a third-round pick of the Falcons in 2020. This will be his first playoff game.

16. The 49ers were 12-5 straight-up, 10-7 against the closing point spread. The Eagles were 11-6 straight-up, 10-7 against the number.

17. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) also missed Saturday’s game. Pearsall, who survived a harrowing robbery attempt in 2024 when he was shot in the chest, had 36 catches in nine games this season.

18. San Fran went 4-4 against playoff teams this season. They split with Seattle and the Rams, beat Carolina and Chicago, and lost to Jacksonville and Houston.

18a. The Eagles were 3-3. They beat the Rams, Green Bay, and Buffalo; lost to the Chargers, Denver, and Chicago.

19. The Eagles entered Week 18 with the NFL’s best red-zone offense, converting 70.73% of their trips inside the 20 into touchdowns. San Fran’s defense was 10th in the league in red-zone efficiency at 53.85%.

20. Conversely, the Eagles defense was eighth at 51.11% while San Fran’s offense was fourth at 65.15%.

21. Linebacker Curtis Robinson is the 49ers’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Robinson, in his fifth year out of Stanford, played in 14 games this season but has been deactivated after having a rough game against Tennessee in Week 15.

22. Renowned coordinator Robert Saleh runs San Francisco’s defense. He didn’t do so well as the Jets head coach, going 20-36 from 2020 to 2024.

23. The Niners were 12th in points allowed despite being dead last in the league with just 20 sacks and tied for 29th with six interceptions. They lost All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa to a torn ACL in Week 3.

24. Saleh’s brother, David, was in the south tower when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. David escaped but wasn’t able to reach his family for several hours.

25. Robert Saleh said the tragedy of that day made him reassess life’s frailty and get into coaching football. He played at Division II Northern Michigan and took his first job as an offensive assistant at Michigan State in 2002.