Nobody weaned on cheesesteaks and scrapple would’ve wanted the Eagles to win it any other way.
The latest star runner from Penn State ran the ball down the throat of the best defense in the NFL. A Camden kid who walked on at Temple mauled the starting quarterback and knocked him out of the game. A couch-potato midseason pickup demolished the Niners’ replacement.
Frenzied fans on a warm winter evening crescendoed into ecstasy as they hugged and cheered and howled at a power-game destruction of a powerhouse franchise.
The fans were remembering the 31-point demolition in the 2017 NFC championship game of a Vikings team with its vaunted defense and a fan base that, like the 49ers’, traveled to Philly to defile landmarks, chant derision, and invite catastrophe.
Catastrophic, it was. Eagles 31, 49ers 7.
Their Birds earned a trip to Glendale, Ariz., as the NFC’s representative in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12. Their MVP-caliber quarterback, Jalen Hurts, earned them the No. 1 seed and the two home-field playoff games, but their first 1,000-yard rusher in eight years, Miles Sanders, started the winning with two first-half touchdown runs.
And their transcendent edge rusher, Haason Reddick, the kid who almost quit at Temple, punctuated the day with two sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery — all in the first half.
Run the ball. Sack the quarterback. Go to the Super Bowl.
Simple.
Right, Philly?
The Eagles nullified end Nick Bosa, the best defensive player in the NFL. Tight end George Kittle disappeared. They ran for 148 yards, nearly twice what 49ers opponents averaged in the regular season, which was second best in the league.
The 49ers had won 12 games in a row since they traded for Christian McCaffrey and made him a starter. They won the last eight in a row with rookie quarterback Brock Purdy, Mr. Irrelevant, the last player taken in the 2022 draft. Their path to their third title game in four years had elements of good fiction and high drama.
It did not compare with the storybook ascent of the Eagles.
They are coached by a quirky second-year nobody named Nick Sirianni, who speaks of flowers and wears novelty T-shirts and goes for it on fourth down like a cliff diver on mushrooms. He did it twice Sunday, both times giving the middle finger to the old school. He cashed both times.
They are led by a novelty quarterback drafted three years ago. Hurts was supposed to be a gadget weapon behind Carson Wentz, but his charisma and character ran Wentz out of town, and his work ethic made him the unlikeliest of MVP candidates.
They are fronted by a defense that devours QBs; now with 78 sacks in 19 games, 19½ of them by Reddick, they feed the hunger of a city that loves to love its defenses.
But they succeed because their offensive line is, again, the best in the NFL. This has been true, in aggregate, since line coach Jeff Stoutland arrived with Chip Kelly in 2013. Three head coaches later, Stoutland and cornerstones Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, have won the George Halas Trophy for the second time in five years.
The Eagles’ 2022 season is best NFL screenplay since ... well, since 2017, when Nick Foles and Doug Pederson, underdogs all the way, beat Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
It was over early.
The Eagles lost the toss, got the ball, stalled at the 49ers’ 35, and, instead of kicking a 52-yard field goal, went for it on fourth-and-3. The play failed, until the athletes took over.
Hurts rolled right, DeVonta Smith went deep, Hurts flung it, and Smith caught it with one hand at the 6. Two plays later, Sanders ran it in from there. The Niners tied it midway through the second quarter, but the Eagles ran it in twice more late in the quarter for a 21-7 halftime lead.
Reddick hit Purdy’s throwing arm on the first series of the game, forcing a fumble and knocking the quarterback from the game. Ndamukong Suh clobbered Purdy’s backup, Josh Johnson, on the first series of the second half, which sent Johnson into concussion protocol, where he will remain for the next few days. Faced with the prospect of McCaffrey playing QB, which would have given new meaning to all-purpose back, Purdy returned. He was ... ineffective.
Sirianni was not one of the three finalists for coach of the year, but he now has beaten all three this season. He beat the winner, Giants rookie Brian Daboll, three times, and blew him out twice. Kyle Shanahan was a finalist, too.
Shanahan’s team committed 11 penalties and lost by 24 points. The 49ers roughed the kicker. They committed a personal foul, punching the ball after the whistle. The deafening assemblage at Lincoln Financial Field helped produce three delay-of-game penalties. Lay all of those at Shanahan’s feet.
The game dissolved into classless melee with 4 minutes, 13 seconds to play, as 320-pound 49ers tackle Trent Williams body-slammed 205-pound K’Von Wallace after a play. As the teams retreated to their sidelines, Eagles players waved goodbye to 49ers players across the field. Hurts coolly looked on in a warm coat, his job done.
For now.
