The defining moment arrived long before the confetti began to fall, long before “Dreams and Nightmares” began to play, long before Nick Sirianni celebrated his Super Bowl berth with a promise that the journey was not yet complete. Peel back the layers of touchdowns and penalties and knockout hits that rounded out the Eagles’ 31-7 victory over the 49ers in the NFC championship game, and this is where you will arrive:
Fourth down. One yard to go. Six minutes before halftime. The ball on the Eagles’ own 34.
This was it, the moment that won it, subsequently buried beneath all of the mayhem it spawned. That’s sometimes how it goes with great coaching decisions. The outcome makes them seem so obvious in hindsight that you forget they were not a simple matter of course. But nothing that Sirianni does is as simple as it seems. And fourth-and-1 from his own 34-yard line was no exception.
Were there bigger plays? Heck, there was a bigger fourth-down conversion (we’ll get to that one in a minute). But the big thing about Sirianni’s decision to go for it while well shy of midfield late in the second quarter was the unprecedented nature of it. This was a call that coaches simply do not make.
To appreciate the magnitude of the decision, you have to remember all the way back to when the NFC championship game was a game. The 49ers had withstood an opening-drive touchdown and had their latest backup quarterback under center and yet were suddenly in a tie ballgame thanks to a 23-yard touchdown run by Christian McCaffrey. They’d just stopped Jalen Hurts short of the sticks on third-and-2 and were holding up their fists in celebration of the opportunity to regain possession.
The opportunity never came. Sirianni kept his offense on the field, Hurts plunged up the middle for his latest first down quarterback sneak, and the Eagles walked back to the huddle with a fresh set of downs against an obviously deflated opponent. Ten plays later, Miles Sanders burst through left guard behind a pulling Jason Kelce and rumbled into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. A 7-7 tie became a 14-7 lead that ultimately landed the Eagles in the Super Bowl with a 31-7 win.
Let’s be clear: this was a call that coaches simply do not make. Everything about the situation called for conservatism. The Eagles were at home, the 49ers were down to the fourth quarterback on their depth chart, their defense the only reason to believe that they still had a chance. Had the Eagles come up short, San Francisco would have been on the edge of field goal range if not already in it. Yet Sirianni never blinked. He didn’t even appear to think.
This was nearly unprecedented. According to pro-football-reference.com, it was only the second time since 1994 that a coach had gone for it on fourth down inside his own 35-yard line in the first half of a playoff game. That’s probably too complicated for a bar trivia question. But it says something.
In fact, it says a lot.
1. The Eagles are chock-full of playmakers, and they’ll be an extremely live underdog against the Bengals or Chiefs.
Big-time players make big-time plays. It sounds trite, and it is, but that’s because of how often it is true. Championships are team things, but they also are an aggregation of moments in which an individual on one side was simply better. You won’t find a better example of this than on DeVonta Smith’s one-handed grab over Jimmie Ward on the Eagles’ opening drive. This was fourth-and-3 from the 49ers’ 35-yard line. Again, there was never a doubt from Sirianni what he was going to do. For a few seconds, it looked like he should have had second thoughts. Jalen Hurts was scrambling to his left and seeing nothing in front of him. He looked at the first level and then at the second level and then something in the distance caught his eye: Smith racing down field a few yards ahead of Ward. The throw was high and long and had no business being caught. Somehow, it was. Smith elevated above his defender, extended his right arm as far as it would go, then crashed to the turf with the ball cradled at his waist. A television replay later showed Smith didn’t fully control the ball.
But this was Corey Clement tapping his toes in the end zone. This was Trey Burton finding Nick Foles with Philly Special. This was Brandon Graham sacking Tom Brady. This was that special of a moment, that special of a pay.
2. Haason Reddick is making a case as the best free-agent signing in recent history.
The man has been straight-up dominant in two straight playoff games. In the first quarter, he beat Mike McGlinchey to the edge and not only forced a Brock Purdy fumble but knocked the Niners rookie clean out of the game. On the 49ers’ second drive, Reddick went unblocked on a play fake to the opposite side of the defense, giving him a clear path to unload on backup quarterback Josh Johnson for a loss of 9. Johnson would later leave after absorbing a big time hit from Ndamukong Suh. Not surprisingly, Reddick was in on the play too.
3. The Eagles join the Phillies in making history. Well, sort of.
Believe it or not, this actually is the third time in the last five years that a city will have a team in both the World Series and the Super Bowl. In 2020, Tampa Bay saw the Bucs beat the Chiefs and the Rays lose to the Dodgers. In 2018, the Red Sox beat the Dodgers in the World Series before the Patriots beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. Of course, New England and Tampa Bay technically are regions and not cities. In which case, you have to go back to 2012, when San Francisco saw the Giants beat the Tigers in the World Series and the 49ers lose to the Ravens in the Super Bowl.
