The San Francisco 49ers were hit with a reality check in Week 18. A 6-game winning streak came to a screeching halt after the Niners only mustered three points in their regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks.

We turn the page to Wild Card weekend, where the 49ers travel to the East Coast to take on the Philadelphia Eagles, who aren’t exactly coming in on a hot streak. The Eagles only scored 13 points on one of the perceived weakest defenses in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills. Since Week 10, Philly surpassed 21 points just twice, despite playing mostly bottom-tier...

49ers’ Kyle Shanahan sees few ties to previous playoff meeting with Eagles (paywall)
“Of course, their thrashing of the Chiefs in last year’s Super Bowl was largely the work of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who left to be the Saints’ head coach.

His replacement, Kevin Patullo, has been highly scrutinized for stumbling backward with a similar embarrassment of riches.

The Eagles rank toward the bottom half of the league in most major offensive categories, including yards per game (24th), passing yards per game (23rd), rushing yards per game (18th), points per game (19th) and third-down conversion rate (24th).

“We know...

The San Francisco 49ers put up a stinker in the season finale against the Seattle Seahawks. It was a game that highlighted the discrepancy between the Jimmys and Joes on each team.

That statistic success rate, especially passing success rate, is one of the highest correlations to winning in the NFL. On Saturday night, the 49ers posted their lowest success rate since Kyle Shanahan became head coach.

The one thing the offense could hang its hat on was not having many negative plays. Unfortunately, they couldn’t generate many chunk plays, run the ball, or consistently get open.

Defensively, the tackling...

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan announced linebacker Tatum Bethune will miss the postseason after suffering a significant groin injury in Week 18 against the Seattle Seahawks. Shanahan said Bethune might need surgery for the tear.

Linebacker Dee Winters, who appeared to have gotten his calf stepped on, has an ankle injury, and Luke Gifford, who has a quad injury, will be evaluated as the week goes on.

Eric Kendricks will take over for Bethune as the starter. He played well in Week 18 and was arguably the 49ers’ best defensive player.

As for Fred Warner, the 49ers are...

Finding three standouts from Saturday night might be a challenging task, but we’re going to give it the old college try.

The San Francisco 49ers picked an unfortunate time to have their worst team performance of the season, dropping their Week 18 clash with the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 13-3, and quite frankly, they’re lucky it wasn’t worse than that.

After three straight games of scoring 35 points or more, the 49ers’ offense put up season lows in passing and rushing yards, resulting in their lowest point output since Kyle Shanahan’s first game as San Francisco’s head coach...

We are in a cycle in which teams request coaching and general manager interviews. For years, the San Francisco 49ers were consistently losing key personnel from their front office and coaching staff. That slowed down last season after a 6-win stint, but it should pick up this offseason.

Sure enough, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the Miami Dolphins requested interviews with 49ers Vice President of Player Personnel Tariq Ahmad and Director of Scouting and Football Operations, Josh Williams, for their vacant general manager position.

There’s an easy connection between the Dolphins and Niners, with Mike McDaniel still Miami’s head coach....

The regular season is over, and the San Francisco 49ers will be the No. 6 seed in the NFC after losing a tough game to the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday, with the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed on the line.

After an improbable run, which included a six-game win streak and some outside luck, the 49ers had a huge chance to boost their playoff odds with the regular-season finale against Seattle, but it was going to be a tough matchup that required a lot to go well.

In the end, San Francisco’s offense was shut down, the...

And that’s a wrap for the NFC West. The final games are over, the standings are solidified, and three teams are going to the postseason. Given that there are more playoff teams nowadays in everybody-gets-a-trophy NFL playoff brackets, it’s not as huge as it was a decade ago when three teams from the same division locked up all the wild card spots. That said, it’s still impressive and should show you just how rugged the NFC West is.

The good news with the 49ers’ loss on Saturday is that they notch the third-place schedule. Again, this is on paper, but...

49ers game review: The back-breaking play that left John Lynch screaming (paywall) “The big play was part of a game in which the 49ers missed a season-high 18 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, a reason they missed out on a chance to win the NFC West title and claim the conference’s No. 1 seed. The sloppy tackling could have been a sign of fatigue for a banged-up team playing its third game in 13 days, which is why the 49ers desperately needed a first-round playoff bye a win would have provided. After the 49ers missed 15 tackles in a...

Now that the NFC playoff bracket is official, the San Francisco 49ers have their Wild Card weekend opponent set. Philadelphia losing to Washington means they are the 3-seed, and will host the Niners.

The last time these two teams faced each other, Deebo Samuel had a day to remember in Philadelphia, and the 49ers won 42-19. The Niners avenged their loss the year prior in the NFC Championship, when they played without a quarterback.

Week 18’s result wasn’t surprising, as the Eagles didn’t play their starters. If you’re the 49ers, don’t you take that personally? A team sits their starters,...

The San Francisco 49ers anxiously await their Wild Card opponent. On Sunday afternoon, a Los Angeles Rams win over the Arizona Cardinals would mean the Niners are the sixth seed. If the Rams lose, the 49ers will travel to the NFC South winner, which turned out to be the Carolina Panthers.

The Rams are 14.5-point favorites. Sean McVay said the starters will play. They should take out their frustrations from last week’s loss against the Falcons on the Cardinals.

The Eagles will host the Commanders, but the majority of their starters will sit. If Washington can “upset” Philadelphia and the...

The San Francisco 49ers will find out who their Wild Card opponent will be next week before Sunday night football kicks off.

One of their potential matchups, the Philadelphia Eagles, will rest several starters on Sunday. Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and the entire starting offensive line are not listed among the first team depth chart. Defensively, the same is true. The Eagles are punting a chance at a home game in the Divisional round in exchange for a week of health.

Philadelphia also seems comfortable with the idea of playing the 49ers next week as opposed...