Eagles-49ers: Game time, channel, how to watch and stream NFL playoffs

The Eagles will play their most important game in five years Sunday when they host the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game at Lincoln Financial Field. The winner moves on to the Super Bowl, while the loser heads home.

The last time the Eagles hosted the NFC championship game was 2018, when they handily defeated the Minnesota Vikings and went on to win Super Bowl LII against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The game will air on Fox, but, for the first time in two decades, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman won’t be in the booth after they jumped to ESPN’s Monday Night Football during the offseason.

Instead, Sunday’s NFC championship game will be called by Kevin Burkhardt and former Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen, who have drawn excellent reviews during their first season occupying the network’s No. 1 booth. Joining them on the sidelines will be reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi, whom Fox hired away from ESPN in 2021.

Burkhardt and Olsen called four 49ers games this season, including last week’s divisional-round win against the Dallas Cowboys, who were able to limit the effectiveness of rookie quarterback Brock Purdy. Olsen said the Eagles could have similar success against Purdy because, like the Cowboys, the Birds’ roster is stacked with fast defenders.

“There’s going to be speed at all three levels. You think there’s space there? All of the sudden that space gets eaten up really quickly, whether it’s Haason Reddick coming off the edge, or [C.J.] Gardner Johnson coming from that safety-nickel hybrid spot he’s been playing now,” Olsen said on The Rich Eisen Show this week. ”It’s a talented group. … This is probably the best defense Brock Prudy has faced.”

Eagles fans also can tune to 94.1 WIP to hear Merrill Reese and Mike Quick call the game. The radio broadcast often is synced with Fox’s broadcast, but with so many different steaming devices and platforms, it’s pretty easy to just pause and sync the broadcasts yourself (just make sure to switch your phone to airplane mode and stay off Twitter to avoid spoilers because of the delay).

Reese, who has been the voice of the Birds since 1977, is the longest-tenured announcer in the NFL and will be calling his eighth NFC championship game. This is the 25th season he’s been paired with Quick, a former Eagles wide receiver, and the duo are under contract through the end of the 2024 season.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream today’s Eagles-49ers NFC championship game:

» READ MORE: Eagles-49ers: Live updates

Following the NFC title game, the Cincinnati Bengals will face the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game.

Bengals-Chiefs is scheduled to kickoff at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with Jim Nantz and Tony Romo on the call. Romo had been a fan favorite, but in his sixth season as a broadcaster, the former Cowboys quarterback has underwhelmed many sports media pundits and fans this postseason.

The game features Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s attempt to lead Cincinnati to their second straight Super Bowl appearance. Once again, they’ll have to defeat the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium, where Kansas City is 12-9 during the playoffs. Mahomes, who injured his ankle during last weekend’s win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, is expected to start.

Kate Scott, the voice of the Sixers on NBC Sports Philadelphia, is having her loyalty tested.

On one hand, Scott is the voice on one of Philly’s most prominent sports teams. But Scott also is a Bay Area native and worked for the 49ers’ flagship radio station before moving across the country to call Sixers games.

So who is Scott rooting for?

“I obviously grew up, born and raised, with the red and gold but now have fallen head over heels for my new love that is Philly,” Scott told The Inquirer earlier this week. “It’s been really fun to watch the Eagles soar this year and to really understand how passionate this city and this whole area is about the Eagles.

“I’m hoping for just an awesome showdown on Sunday.”

» READ MORE: Sixers broadcaster Kate Scott, a Bay Area native, isn’t picking sides in Eagles-Niners

The Eagles might have a good luck charm wearing stripes on Sunday.

Veteran official John Hussey will be the head referee for Eagles-49ers. This is Hussey’s 23rd season as an NFL referee, and during his eight years as a head official, he’s manned six Eagles games — all ending in Birds wins.

Expect Sunday to be a “let them play” type of game. Hussey’s crew has called the second-fewest penalties per game this season in the NFL, just over nine penalties per game. When it comes to controversial roughing the passer penalties, Hussey’s crew is ranked last — they called just one roughing the passer penalty in 16 games officiated this season.

Hussey’s most-recent Eagles game was the Birds’ 26-17 win against the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 16. During that game, the Eagles were called for just two penalties for 10 yards, while the Cowboys were tagged with 10 penalties for 72 yards.

Inquirer staff writers Jeff McLane, EJ Smith, and Josh Tolentino will be covering the action live Sunday. Smith and Tolentino will discuss the Eagles-49ers game prior to kickoff live at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. Notes and observations about the game will be at Inquirer.com/Eagles. Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Sports Daily newsletter.

On NBC Sports Philadelphia, coverage begins at 1 p.m. with Birds Huddle: Game Day, hosted by Barrett Brooks and Taryn Hatcher. Eagles Pregame Live airs at 1:30 p.m., hosted by Michael Barkann alongside Brooks, Reuben Frank, and Ray Diginder, who unretired for the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. Former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski will also return to NBC Sports Philadelphia Sunday after missing last week’s game.

On the NFL Network, pregame coverage begins at 9 a.m. with NFL GameDay Morning, hosted by Rich Eisen alongside analysts Michael Irvin, Kurt Warner, and Steve Mariucci. NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport will provide live updates throughout the afternoon.

ESPN will air Postseason NFL Countdown at noon, featuring Sam Ponder, Tedy Bruschi, Matt Hasselbeck, Randy Moss and Rex Ryan. Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter will provide live updates.

Coverage begins on Fox at 1 p.m. with Fox NFL Kickoff, the network pre-pregame show featuring Charissa Thompson Charles Woodson, former Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, and Peter Schrager. Fox NFL Sunday airs at 2 p.m., featuring Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, Jay Glazer, Sean Payton, and Rob Gronkowski, who hopefully has learned the name of the Eagles’ offensive coordinator.

CBS begins its coverage at 6 p.m. with The NFL Today, hosted by James Brown and featuring Phil Simms, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and Boomer Esiason.