Wild Card game referee assignment should infuriate 49ers fans

The San Francisco 49ers are lined up to play a familiar NFC playoff opponent on Sunday afternoon when they square off against the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field (1:30 p.m. PT on FOX).

These two teams have represented the NFC in each of the three most recent and five of the eight most recent Super Bowls. They most recently met head-to-head late in the 2023 regular season in a game that was dominated by San Francisco.

They also met in January of that year, when the Eagles similarly dominated the 49ers to advance to Super Bowl LVII.

In that game back in January 2023, the officiating crew was led by John Hussey. Alan Eck, who was on Hussey's regular crew during that season, served as the umpire.

That game ended up being Eck's final game before he was promoted to referee following Jerome Boger's retirement, and he has been named the referee for this weekend's Wild Card matchup between the 49ers and Eagles.

Eagles get best possible ref news as 49ers left scratching their heads

The Eagles possess an 8-1 record in games officiated by Eck during his 10 seasons in the league, including 3-0 since his 2023 promotion. The 49ers, on the other hand, possess a 3-6 record, including 1-2 over the past three seasons.

We get it. At the end of the day, team records with certain officiating crews never truly tell the full story, and you never want to overanalyze the NFL's ability (or inability) to be impartial. You'd psych yourself out each and every week, and quite frankly, the NFL themselves could probably make things worse by reading too much into things and trying too hard to make things fair.

But when you zero in on Eck's history, there certainly appears to be more than meets the eye.

First and foremost, he is a Bloomsburg University graduate who grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Should that, in and of itself, disqualify him from calling this game? Maybe, maybe not – but clearly not from the NFL's perspective. It has still raised some eyebrows, to say the least, and understandably so.

Secondly, 49ers fans remember all too well how that aforementioned NFC Championship Game started. On an early 4th-and-3, Jalen Hurts threw a pass to DeVonta Smith, who pretty clearly didn't haul it in.

Yet it was ridiculously ruled a catch, play continued, and the Eagles scored an opening possession touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. It would only snowball from there, as the 49ers fell 31-7 after dealing with a number of significant injuries later in the game, including to Brock Purdy.

Sure, you can't place full blame on Eck here; Kyle Shanahan also could have challenged the call, and he would've won. And he didn't. Human error is inevitable.

But the fact that the NFL has assigned Eck, who was on the very crew that totally botched this call, as the lead official for this weekend's Wild Card matchup cannot be ignored, especially when you factor in his aforementioned history calling games featuring these two teams – and yes, even his own personal background.

Built-in excuse? Possibly. Legitimate reason for concern? Definitely.

The good news for the 49ers is that a couple other elements of history are on their side, even if the deck is stacked against them ahead of yet another trip to the ever-friendly confines of southeastern Pennsylvania.

First of all, in each of their seven most recent playoff appearances, they have advanced to at least the NFC Championship game.

Secondly, two of those runs came as a Wild Card team (2013 and 2021). And perhaps most importantly, their six most recent playoff appearances have all featured multiple victories, including all four trips during the Shanahan era and both during the Purdy era.

You never want to assume bad intent, but let's just hope a continuation – or lack thereof – of this year's postseason trip doesn't come down to a decision made by the guys in black and white stripes.