The 49ers might have an Eagles problem to overcome Sunday in Philadelphia.
San Francisco, albeit a much different version of the team, faced Philadelphia last year at Levi’s Stadium and lost 25-20 in a game that ultimately spelled out how the rest of the season would go when Jimmy Garoppolo wasn’t on the field. Their 2020 defeat at the hands of the Eagles followed a trend that’s stuck with the 49ers over the last 20 years.
Since 2001, the 49ers and Eagles have squared off 12 times. San Francisco has emerged victorious in just four of those games. One of them was a season-changer in 2011 where Alex Smith led a 20-point second-half comeback in Week 3 that sparked a run to the NFC championship game. The 49ers also knocked off the Eagles three years later in a rare bright spot during Jim Harbaugh’s final season.
Before that 2011 game, the Eagles knocked off the 49ers in five consecutive games – none of which were particularly close. The 49ers snuck out an overtime win in 2003, and also took them down in 2001.
While just four wins against Philadelphia since the turn of the century isn’t a great stat, it ultimately doesn’t matter because a game from 2001 won’t impact what happens Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
On the other hand, the two games they’ve matched up during Kyle Shanahan’s tenure as the 49ers’ head coach feel relevant.
In 2017 the Eagles lambasted San Francisco 33-10 in a dreary game at Philadelphia that somehow didn’t feel as close as the final score. It dropped the 49ers to 1-7 and it became abundantly clear third-round pick CJ Beathard wasn’t the franchise’s future under center. Two days later the 49ers traded for Jimmy Garoppolo.
Last year was the disaster that might’ve ultimately acted as the catalyst for the 49ers’ trade up in the draft. San Francisco, favored by 8.5 points, saw Nick Mullens crumble on Sunday Night Football. He missed an early throw to Kyle Juszczyk, and later threw a Pick Six to aid an Eagles 25-20 win. Turnovers by Mullens were the story of the 49ers’ downfall in 2020, and it started against Philly.
Now San Francisco heads back to Philadelphia with a chance to right some of the wrongs of their last couple meetings. History isn’t on their side going into Lincoln Financial Field, but shaking off the demons that’ve guided a couple abysmal years for Shanahan and the 49ers could put them on the right track toward their best season yet.