After losing 3 straight games earlier in the season, the Eagles have built up confidence overcoming the 2-12 raiders, the 4-11 commanders, a legendary performance by the defense to beat the Bills, and then sadly the backups lost to the Commanders. The starters don't care who they play, as they opted for rest in Week 18 over competing for the 2nd seed.

The offense needs to get their crap together this week. I just sadly have very little confidence that all of a sudden happening, even with Lane coming back. The rest would probably have been more valuable for the defense since they have been playing a ton of snaps and are getting worn out by the 4th quarter.

If the 49ers keep it close until the 4th, they will definitely get opportunities as the offense turtles up and goes 3 and out quickly since KP can't adjust. I still like the Eagles chances, but its going to be on the defense like most weeks.

Two drives of ineptitude and I'm letting Hurts call the plays if I'm sirianni

On 1/7/2026 at 12:15 PM, RememberTheKoy said:

Great job by the media not following up to ask then what the identity is exactly?

Ineffective early down runs and historic 3 wnd outs while trotting out a historic rate of hitch routes?

Two days later the media finally asks the follow up and Nick has no answer.

I think there is a fair chance it does turn out to be a walk in the park because the Niners are inept on offense. CMC would need like 30 touches and 200 yards IMO. It's not going to happen.

So, this is really interesting. The QBs the Eagles faced, when removing the games against the Eagles, had the highest EPA per drop back in the NFL. So we faced the toughest gauntlet of QBs and had basically the best pass defense in the NFL.

Everyone on the roster is practicing today

If that chart is correct, we are somehow underrating our pass defense.

8 minutes ago, Mike31mt said:

I think there is a fair chance it does turn out to be a walk in the park because the Niners are inept on offense. CMC would need like 30 touches and 200 yards IMO. It's not going to happen.

They've averaged 30+ pts per game since Purdy has been back. And that includes their 3 pt outing against the Seahawks. Prior to that it was like 35+ pts/gm. Is our defense strong enough to keep them to less than 20 pts? Very plausible, but to frame them as offensively inept is legitimately insane.

9 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Everyone on the roster is practicing today

Practicing what?

8 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

They've averaged 30+ pts per game since Purdy has been back. And that includes their 3 pt outing against the Seahawks. Prior to that it was like 35+ pts/gm. Is our defense strong enough to keep them to less than 20 pts? Very plausible, but to frame them as offensively inept is legitimately insane.

We'll see on Sunday. I think theyll be inept vs the Eagles

I also think the Jags hammer the Bills

47 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Patullo has a Ferrari, the expectations of a Nissan Sentra, and produces a 1995 shitbox Ford Escort

28 minutes ago, BwianWestbwook said:

Two drives of ineptitude and I'm letting Hurts call the plays if I'm sirianni

But he doesn't want to hurt his buddy's feelings.

1 minute ago, Saltpeter said:

Patullo has a Ferrari, the expectations of a Nissan Sentra, and produces a 1995 shitbox Ford Escort

More like a 1985 Yugo.

10 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

Practicing what?

Their dance recitals

15 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

They've averaged 30+ pts per game since Purdy has been back. And that includes their 3 pt outing against the Seahawks. Prior to that it was like 35+ pts/gm. Is our defense strong enough to keep them to less than 20 pts? Very plausible, but to frame them as offensively inept is legitimately insane.

Their last few games where they established a 6 game winning streak with Purdy included the Giants, Cardinals, Panthers, Titans and Browns...followed by the Bears and then Seahawks. They were 6-4 prior to that gauntlet of games. Their offense is good, but not unbeatable.

Ooops forgot about the Niners playing the broken Colts also before the Bears.

1 minute ago, we_gotta_believe said:

They've averaged 30+ pts per game since Purdy has been back. And that includes their 3 pt outing against the Seahawks. Prior to that it was like 35+ pts/gm. Is our defense strong enough to keep them to less than 20 pts? Very plausible, but to frame them as offensively inept is legitimately insane.

I think the best way to describe this 49ers team is they are effectively the Dallas Cowboys from 2021-2023; they can beat the hell out of bad teams, but they struggle against good teams. Looking at the teams they ran up the score on since Purdy came back:

Week 11: 41 against Arizona and our old friend Gannon. 29th in the league at 28.7 points per game. SF had only 281 yards in that game while Arizona gives up 358 on average, but Arizona turned it over 3 times. So they basically underperformed here but the defense forced 3 turnovers which led to 10 points.

Week 12: 20 against Carolina, 15th in the league at 22.4 points per game. SF did produce 340 yards vs. the Panthers giving up 327.2 on average, but they also turned it over 3 times. So basically scored a little less than Carolina gives up, had a few more yards, and Purdy threw 3 picks. Basically inline performance with turnovers.

Week 13: 26 against Cleveland, 14th in the league at 22.3 points per game. Only 252 yards against a defense that averages giving up 283.6, but CLE turned it over 2 times, and SFs TD drives in that game were 16 yards (big punt return), 32 yards (after CLE fumble), and 18 yards (after CLE muffed punt). So really not a strong performance.

Week 15: 37 against Tennessee, 28th in the league giving up 28.1 per game. 430 total yards vs. 345 average for Tennessee. They outperformed here and smoked a bad defense.

Week 16: 48 against Indy (41 by the offense), 21st in the league at 24.2 per game. 440 yards vs. 349.8 per game average for Indy. 5 TDs for Purdy, and the SF defense scored a TD on a pick 6. This was when Indy was in freefall with Rivers, and they also gave up 36 to JAX and 38 to Houston during the collapse. But it was a strong performance for SF.

Week 17: 42 against Chicago, 23rd in the league at 24.4 per game. 496 total yards. This was their best performance and had everyone excited going into week 18 (oops).

So they really feasted on some bad defenses - the only 2 times they played a defense better than 21st in the league they didn't outperform.

15 minutes ago, aptosbird said:

Their last few games where they established a 6 game winning streak with Purdy included the Giants, Cardinals, Panthers, Titans and Browns...followed by the Bears and then Seahawks. They were 6-4 prior to that gauntlet of games.

Which was without Purdy. Hence why I said since he's been back.

15 minutes ago, aptosbird said:

Their offense is good, but not unbeatable.

Ooops forgot about the Niners playing the broken Colts also before the Bears.

Maybe there's a middle ground between inept and unbeatable. Maybe.

13 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

I think the best way to describe this 49ers team is they are effectively the Dallas Cowboys from 2021-2023; they can beat the hell out of bad teams, but they struggle against good teams. Looking at the teams they ran up the score on since Purdy came back:

Week 11: 41 against Arizona and our old friend Gannon. 29th in the league at 28.7 points per game. SF had only 281 yards in that game while Arizona gives up 358 on average, but Arizona turned it over 3 times. So they basically underperformed here but the defense forced 3 turnovers which led to 10 points.

Week 12: 20 against Carolina, 15th in the league at 22.4 points per game. SF did produce 340 yards vs. the Panthers giving up 327.2 on average, but they also turned it over 3 times. So basically scored a little less than Carolina gives up, had a few more yards, and Purdy threw 3 picks. Basically inline performance with turnovers.

Week 13: 26 against Cleveland, 14th in the league at 22.3 points per game. Only 252 yards against a defense that averages giving up 283.6, but CLE turned it over 2 times, and SFs TD drives in that game were 16 yards (big punt return), 32 yards (after CLE fumble), and 18 yards (after CLE muffed punt). So really not a strong performance.

Week 15: 37 against Tennessee, 28th in the league giving up 28.1 per game. 430 total yards vs. 345 average for Tennessee. They outperformed here and smoked a bad defense.

Week 16: 48 against Indy (41 by the offense), 21st in the league at 24.2 per game. 440 yards vs. 349.8 per game average for Indy. 5 TDs for Purdy, and the SF defense scored a TD on a pick 6. This was when Indy was in freefall with Rivers, and they also gave up 36 to JAX and 38 to Houston during the collapse. But it was a strong performance for SF.

Week 17: 42 against Chicago, 23rd in the league at 24.4 per game. 496 total yards. This was their best performance and had everyone excited going into week 18 (oops).

So they really feasted on some bad defenses - the only 2 times they played a defense better than 21st in the league they didn't outperform.

Again, I'm not saying they're the greatest show on turf, but it's pretty crazy to claim they're inept. Not just mediocre, not just opportunistic, but inept? Come on.

Fangio has always played Shanahan's offense well. This one is going to be the classic game of defense balls out early, offense sputters along, game gets close in the 4th quarter and it'll come down to which team makes the key play when they need it.

5 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Again, I'm not saying they're the greatest show on turf, but it's pretty crazy to claim they're inept. Not just mediocre, not just opportunistic, but inept? Come on.

Yeah - I'd call them opportunistic and front runners. When they face good defenses, they look much worse. Obviously only 3 points against Seattle in week 18, but also only 17 against Seattle week 1, 21 against JAX (8th at 19.8 per game) week 4, rest were Mac Jones games. Hence the comparison to Dak's Cowboys, or Goff's Lions -- they can really light up bad defenses, but don't really carry it over against good defenses.

Just now, vikas83 said:

Yeah - I'd call them opportunistic and front runners. When they face good defenses, they look much worse. Obviously only 3 points against Seattle in week 18, but also only 17 against Seattle week 1, 21 against JAX (8th at 19.8 per game) week 4, rest were Mac Jones games. Hence the comparison to Dak's Cowboys, or Goff's Lions -- they can really light up bad defenses, but don't really carry it over against good defenses.

I think they'll give us a much tougher game than Goff did a couple months ago. I really don't think 16 pts is gonna get the job done like it did against DET. But yeah I'd say the comparison to Dak and the Cowboys offense is a bit better.

One thing I'm very intrigued to see is how this defense looks, fully healthy, for the 1st time maybe all year. Carter was clearly limited throughout the year, and seemingly at his worst after the bye (once Phillips arrived) and before he got the injections/procedures. He looked much better against Buffalo, but we didn't have Nakobe in that game. I thought Campbell played very well against Buffalo, but Dean is a much better blitzer. I think the key will be can we get pressure with 4 (blitz Dean, drop Hunt/Smith at times) - if we can, I think Purdy is in real trouble.

34 minutes ago, Mike31mt said:

We'll see on Sunday. I think theyll be inept vs the Eagles

What they like to do, we are built well to stop. By alignment and with excellent talent and pretty swell tackling. Even Adoree hits well most times.

Purdy holds the ball a LONG time. (That won't go well against this line). They like to throw past the sticks. (Not against this D backfield). They like to work CMC and Kittle in the middle. (LBs and Coop are there). Wherever the FB lines up is the side they run to. (Dean is back; Carter/Davis/Ojo/Baun-oh my) They get lots of YAC. (Eagles tackle well). ZERO outside threat. (Should allow the safeties to cheat up and help on CMC (bracket and to limit in space)).

On the plus side for them, Purdy moves well and CMC and Kittle are beasts.

More downsides-they travel to us and are banged up at best (Purdy may be more hurt than just his thumb; CMC was nursing a sore back 2-3 weeks ago and didn't look great last week; Trent will not be 100% on that anchor leg hammy). They have NO LBs. No starting LBs at all. None. Zero. An absence of starting LBs. 🙃Their pass rush is anemic. Think I heard on a pod that the Niners have just a few more pressures that Ojo has by himself this season. Crazy weak sauce.

34-13 was my prediction. I stand by it. It will be a cakewalk. We will beat them like a f'ing drum.

1 minute ago, we_gotta_believe said:

I think they'll give us a much tougher game than Goff did a couple months ago. I really don't think 16 pts is gonna get the job done like it did against DET. But yeah I'd say the comparison to Dak and the Cowboys offense is a bit better.

The counterpoint to that would be that our defense is better now with a health(ier) JC on the line. Epps for Mukuba is a wash. The Lions have the higher scoring offense (28.3 per game, 5th in the league) as compared to the 49ers (10th at 25.7). I'd also say Detroit has much better weapons across the board, especially on the outside (St. Brown, Williams, etc.). Gibbs killed us in that game, and God bless Dan Campbell's stupidity going for every 4th down, but I also think Goff is better than Purdy but just less mobile.

I think we hold them under 20.