When the 49ers’ schedule was released last May, this was the game that everyone circled first.
Because Dec. 3 in Philadelphia is unfinished business for the 49ers.
The Niners cannot retrieve what was lost in January. They cannot undo what happened the last time they went to Philly, when Brock Purdy’s elbow exploded on the sixth play of the NFC Championship game and all hopes and dreams went with it.
The Niners never had a chance to deploy their game plan for Philadelphia. The defense had to shift to accommodate the offense, and the offense had to adjust to a fourth-string backup quarterback and, later, Purdy, playing without the ability to throw the football.
“It feels like something got stolen from you,” Christian McCaffrey said then in an interview with FanDuel TV.
“We [had], hands down, the best football team in the league. Hands down… I’m not going to argue with anyone who thinks they should argue that,” Brandon Aiyuk told TheSFNiners show.
“We lost because we played with 10 people,” Deebo Samuel told Complex in May.
They knew the Eagles would hear it. They didn’t care. It’s how they felt.
And this week, the Eagles shared their feelings on the matter. And no one did it better than the man who delivered the fateful hit to Purdy’s elbow, Philadelphia pass rusher Haason Reddick.
“It was a lot of boo-hoos last year, a lot of crying, a lot of what if, a lot of this, a lot of that,” Reddick said. “They get a chance to come back in here, line that (stuff) up, and prove it again.”
Indeed, they do.
And unless the football gods have a sick sense of humor, on Sunday, the Niners will finally see how they stack up against their top rival in the NFC and arguably the only other team in the NFL on their level this season.
Sunday is also an opportunity for Purdy to return to where his magical rookie season — one step from the Super Bowl — was cut short by a freakish injury.
“Am I going to go into the game saying I want revenge and all this kind of stuff?” Purdy said Thursday. “It’s not like that. I’m just going to try to go do my job and be the best Brock that I can be for this team.”
And that Brock is markedly better than the one we saw last year. A case can be made that this is the best quarterback duel in the NFC this year. Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts is the league’s MVP frontrunner. Purdy shouldn’t be far behind him.
He might even overtake him with a Niners’ win.
“I think I’ve grown just mentally with this playbook, with the system, with just the guys that I’m playing with in terms of them knowing what they’re going to get from me,” Purdy said. “I feel like at the time [of the injury], I was still trying to find my way in the NFL. Now it’s all about how I can be consistent, every single drive, every game… I don’t know if I was that guy yet. I feel like that’s a difference.”
That could prove to be a massive difference Sunday.
Because this is not a mere regular-season game. With all that trash talk and all those bad vibes, this game already resonates beyond just one week.
It also carries some serious stakes. Home-field advantage in the postseason is on the line. The Eagles (10-1) have the best record in the NFC. The 49ers (8-3) are two games behind them in the standings.
It’s easy to see the winner of this game hosting the NFC Championship come January, a game in which these two teams meet again seems inevitable.
For the Eagles, keeping the game in the Commonwealth is worth a fight. Philadelphia fans are rabid — perhaps literally. (I saw one or two of them foaming at the mouth in January). Their energy, paired with perhaps the world’s muckiest weather, creates a significant home-field advantage for the Birds.
But if the Niners win Sunday, it would not only be a statement to the rest of the league that they are the team to beat, but it also could bring the NFC Championship Game to Levi’s Stadium.
Yes, Sunday is the game the Niners have anticipated for nearly a year.
This is the opponent the Eagles have wanted to silence for nearly as long.
Two great teams are poised to give us one brilliant regular-season game, and we don’t have to wait much longer for it.