The San Francisco 49ers were awfully close to being able to avoid the Wild Card round of the playoffs, only to lose a disheartening Week 18 home tilt to the Seattle Seahawks, who not only clinched the NFC West away from the Niners but also took home the No. 1 seed in the conference's playoff picture.
As such, the Hawks get a first-round bye, while head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad now has to be the road team despite winning 12 games during the regular season.
And San Francisco's opening-round opponent is turning into something of a hated rival in recent years.
The Super Bowl-defending Philadelphia Eagles aren't quite the same iteration of themselves as they were a season ago, at least on the offensive side of the ball. But coordinator Vic Fangio (another familiar name to 49ers fans) is certainly looking at how Seattle absolutely shut down Shanahan's offense throughout four quarters to the tune of just three points; exceptional after the Niners averaged 40-plus points over their previous three games.
Of course, the last time San Francisco faced off against Philly was during a 2023 regular-season game in which the 49ers routed Philly 42-19.
That game was seen as vengeance for what happened the previous January in the NFC Championship bout, though, as Shanahan lost both of his quarterbacks, Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson, to injuries. Philadelphia subsequently advanced to the Super Bowl after the 31-7 final.
In what'll effectively be the third tilt of this newfound rivalry, the Niners have to be concerned about how Fangio's defense might force Purdy and the offense into a similar context as Seattle did recently. Sure, the Seahawks entered Week 18 with the No. 2-ranked scoring defense, while the Eagles boast the fifth-ranked crop. But, in light of how Philly has won games this season -- a strong defense boosted by a potent run game behind Saquon Barkley -- it's not hard to see a mirror image of how Week 18 went down.
Except the Niners will be the road team instead of taking the week off.
San Francisco and Philadelphia kick off their Wild Card weekend matchup on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 4:30 p.m. ET from Lincoln Financial Field.