The San Francisco 49ers, despite a boatload of injuries that would have sunk most other teams, find themselves moving onto the NFC Divisional round once again after polishing off a 23-19 road victory against Jalen Hurts and the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles.
San Francisco came into this game as a road underdog despite the better record, largely because seldom-used backups and veteran cast-offs were starting in place of difference-making names. Despite that, the golden-domed visitors found a way to pull off a win by leaning on a player that no one would have ever thought could have made a difference-making play.
Hurts' attempt to keep Philly's repeat hopes alive fell flat, as former Minnesota Vikings veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks (who signed with the team in November and was promoted to the active roster just a few days ago) broke it up and secured the win.
The fact that Kendricks was able to handle such an important role in this game is not just a great lucky bounce that went San Francisco's way, but it further confirmed the elite status of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
Eric Kendricks sealing 49ers win shows this coaching staff is truly elite
San Francisco rolled into this game with their two best individual defensive players in pass rusher Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner on the mend, and No. 1 wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk appears to be one step shy of AWOL after his own injury problems. The list (which included Ricky Pearsall and Mykel Williams) grew when star tight end George Kittle went down.
Kittle is confirmed to have torn his Achilles, which will rule him out for the rest of the year and perhaps most of the 2026 season. That gut punch would have been enough to extinguish the spirit of most teams out there, but the 49ers aren't most teams.
Between Shanahan and Saleh, the 49ers have two of the brightest minds for their respective sides of the ball. That ingenuity proved to be good enough to both grind out a win against Vic Fangio's defense and lock down Hurts when it counted.
San Francisco will likely need to put together a better performance if they want to take down the No. 1 seed Seattle Seahawks in the next round, but pulling out that victory against Philadelphia with Kendricks at the tip of their spear is a tremendous coaching feat.