Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Byron Young (94) reacts after a penalty during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

While the Philadelphia Eagles defense kept the team in its Wild Card game against the San Francisco 49ers, the offense’s season-long struggles ended the team’s Super Bowl title defense.

By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN

The Philadelphia Eagles journey to defend their Super Bowl title came to a frustrating end on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field with a 23-19 NFC Wild Card game loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

After the Eagles had taken a 19-17 lead over the 49ers on a 33-yard field goal by Jake Elliott with 8-minutes and 4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, San Francisco went on a 10-play, 66-yard drive that was capped by a four-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy to Christian McCaffery.

The Eagles got the ball back with 2:54 left at their own 35 and drove down to the San Francisco 21-yard line but would not come any closer. Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw four straight incomplete passes, and the 49ers took over on downs and ran out the final 43 seconds of the game.

The NFC Eastern Division Champions saw their season end at 11-7 while the 49ers will move on to play the Seattle Seahawks, the NFC’s top seed in the divisional round of the playoffs.

This Eagles defeat came down to all the things that they struggled with throughout the season on the offensive side of the ball. With all the outstanding talent Birds had on offense this season, they simply could not find any sense of consistency this season.

“Ultimately, when I see our defense get the ball back like that, I mean, we’ve responded with touchdowns and those are the times we capitalize, especially on short fields,” Hurts said. “I take ownership for not being able to put points on the board. It all starts with me and ends with me.”

More than a few of the 11 wins the Birds had this season happened because the defense, led defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, was so dominant that they could cover up the shortcomings of the offense.

This was definitely true in close wins over the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills.

Throughout the season, the Eagles never found any consistent rhythm in both the running and passing games. For example, it took eight games for running back Saquon Barkley to have a 100-yard rushing game. Prior to that point, Barkley hadn’t had a 100-yard plus rushing game since last year’s NFC title game win over the Washington Commanders.

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs with the ball after catching a pass during the second half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)

“Felt like that was kind of our story as the year progressed. Like you said, good first half, didn’t do a good enough job coaching, didn’t do a good enough job executing in the second half, in that third quarter particularly,” said head coach Nick Sirianni.

The offenses’ failures are not just on one person; Hurts had times this season when he struggled to find his own consistency in the passing game. For example, in the win over the Bills, Hurts didn’t complete any passes in the second half of the win over Buffalo.

You could point to the playcalling of first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo along with dropped passes, or the injury-riddled offensive line that struggled to stay healthy. In the loss to the 49ers, starting right tackle Lane Johnson did not play because of a foot injury. Center Cam Jurgens, and linemen Jordan Mailata, and Landon Dickerson also had their share of injuries throughout the season.

In Sunday’s loss to the 49ers when the Eagles defense needed the offense to play all four quarters with, they came up woefully short in the second half against San Francisco, and the defense, even with two interceptions by Quinyon Mitchell, could not save the day this time.

In the first half, the Eagles took a 13-10 lead at half thanks to a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Goedert, who also scored on a one-yard run. But in the second half, the Birds could only manage two field goals while the Niners scored a touchdown. That was the difference in the game.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Barkley said the Eagles’ inability to play with any kind of consistency during the regular season came back to bite the Birds in the postseason.

“Obviously, you’re frustrated after a game like that, and you know your season is over,” Barkley said. “It’s been a common theme for us this year. We haven’t done a good enough job playing complete football, putting two halves together. You expect when you get into this moment (playoffs) and we’ll just figure it out.”

“It caught up to us.”