The San Francisco 49ers have to go to Philadelphia to face the Eagles this Sunday in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
And star tight end George Kittle pretty much admitted that this is the worst possible outcome for the Niners.
After San Francisco was defeated by the Seattle Seahawks in the regular-season finale in Week 18, Kittle openly cheered for the Arizona Cardinals to beat the Los Angeles Rams. Had the Cardinals accomplished that, the Niners would've faced the Carolina Panthers instead of the Eagles, which obviously would have been an easier matchup, considering Carolina is 8-9 on the year and San Francisco already beat the Panthers earlier in the season.
Kittle knew that a date with the No. 4 seed, which could have either been the Panthers or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was much more preferable than facing either the Eagles or the Chicago Bears.
Now, the 49ers will have to face the defending Super Bowl champs on the road with key injuries on both sides of the ball.
Basically, it is a nightmare matchup and Kittle knows it.
The 49ers have not been able to stop the run the last two weeks, and now they will go against one of the best running backs in football in Saquon Barkley. San Francisco may very well have to rely on its fourth- and fifth-string linebackers, too, which is not exactly a recipe for success.
Plus, Philadelphia rested many of its key starters on Sunday against the Washington Commanders, so it'll come into the contest well-rested and in a position to dominate.
It is not impossible for the 49ers to win. They may need some breaks to go their way and the game may have to be reminiscent of the 2021 divisional round bout against the Green Bay Packers when the Niners won on a last-second field goal after battling out a gritty game in the elements.
Luck will just have to be on San Francisco's side. The 49ers will need the Eagles to make mistakes and will absolutely need to take advantage of them. That may mean intercepting quarterback Jalen Hurts multiple times or making a game-changing play on special teams.
At the very least, the Niners will have a chance. Every time they have made it to the playoffs under Shanahan they have at the very least made it to the NFC Championship game, so maybe they can go out and surprise some folks.
Kittle, perhaps, being one of them.