Eagles remain alive in quest for No. 2 seed, thanks to wild 49ers win over Bears

Eagles beat the Bills and the 49ers beat the Bears Sunday.

By Reuben Frank • Published December 29, 2025

The Eagles’ hopes for the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff bracket and a potential second home playoff game remain alive after the 49ers came back in the final minutes to beat the Bears, 42-38, Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

The day began with the Eagles locked into the No. 3 seed at worst but needing four things to happen to move up to the No. 2 seed – Eagles wins over the Bills and Commanders as well as Bears losses to the 49ers and Lions.

The Eagles took care of the first part of that equation, beating the Bills 13-12 in Orchard Park, and the 49ers took care of the second, winning a wild back-and-forth game on Brock Purdy’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings with 2 ½ minutes left. Caleb Williams drove the Bears down to the 49ers’ 2-yard-line but threw incomplete to Jahdae Walker on the game’s final play. 

It was the 49ers’ 2^nd-highest scoring game since 1970. Their only higher-scoring game was a 48-46 win over the Saints at the Superdome in 2019. 

The No. 2 seed would be huge for the Eagles because it means that with a win in the wild-card round, they would be home for the conferenc semifinal round the following weekend. And like last year, if the No. 1 seed loses in the conference semifinals, they would host the NFC Championship Game.

The NFL announced Sunday night that both Eagles-Commanders and Bears-Lions will be played at 4:25 p.m. Sunday

Asked after the Eagles-Bills game what his plans were for playing the starters next weekend in the final regular-season game of the season, he didn’t answer but did point out that the Eagles were still alive in the chase for the No. 2 seed.

If the Bears had won, there would have been no reason to play the starters against Washington because the Eagles would have been locked into the No. 3 spot. But with a chance at No. 2, presumably he’ll start the regulars and then pull them if the Bears take command of the game against the Lions.

The Eagles are 1-5 in road playoff games since 2009, winning only in Chicago in the double-doink game after the 2018 season. They’re 5-14 in road playoff games since 1950. But they’ve won five straight home playoff games and 15 of 20 since the Buddy Ryan Eagles lost two straight home wild-card games in 1989 and 1990. Overall, they’re 20-8 in home postseason games.

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