By Brian Murphy
I don’t think the 49ers are going to win their NFC wild card playoff game at Philadelphia Sunday.
And that’s OK.
I mean, it’s not “OK, great! 49ers lost! YES!”
I mean, I’m not a Communist or anything like that.
Don’t get this twisted. I love being a 49ers fan. They are a rich part of my life, and have been since Sept. 29, 1974 —my first Berkeley Farms Junior 49ers Minor game at Candlestick. Obstructed view seats in the south end zone. Hey, they were free. I was seven. Paul Brown’s Bengals beat Dick Nolan’s 49ers, 21-3.
Things got a lot better seven years later. 🙂
So what I mean when I say “it’s ok” is that not every year in 49ers history is going to end in the glory of a Super Bowl, as I was just saying to my good friends Colin Kaepernick and Michael Crabtree.
I don’t think the 49ers are going to win on Sunday in Philadelphia because they have run out of bodies on defense.
I think it’s just too much to ask for the 49ers to stop the Eagles enough times to win, when the 49ers are playing without Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Mykel Williams, Tatum Bethune and probably Dee Winters, too. Heck, even corner Renardo Green and Keion White are questionable for Sunday in cold and windy Lincoln Financial Field.
As the 49ers defense has limped to the finish line of the regular season, the unit was gashed repeatedly. All I have to do is remind you of the Chicago Bears’ final drive on the Sunday night after Christmas —which ended in 49ers heroics with a last-play stop — to remind you the Bears and Caleb Williams got pretty much whatever the heck they wanted. They just came up two yards short. That was fun, and thrilling, and one of the best regular season games since the 2019 finale at Seattle — but it belied a darker truth.
The 49ers defense has a lot of trouble stopping teams.
In the final games of the year, Robert Saleh’s beleaguered and battered crew surrendered 371 yards per game — a bottom-ten figure in the NFL. The only playoff defenses playing worse down the stretch were the Packers and the Bears.
It’s all just too much to ask. This injured defense with linebackers you’ve never heard of trying to tackle Saquon Barkley? It’s a bridge too far.
And it’s OK.
This was not going to be the season, sports fans.
This entire 2025 season was essentially a reset and launch for the next three years. This was the season Kyle Shanahan said in the summer was a reconfiguring for future “sustained success”. The team was going to have to find its way without Deebo Samuel and Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga and the rest.
They drafted Williams and defensive tackles Alfred Collins and CJ West and linebacker Nick Martin (remember him?) and defensive backs Upton Stout and Marques Sigle to do such a thing.
This was not set up to be the “Super Bowl or bust” 49ers. This was set up to be the “let’s see what happens with our soft schedule because ya never know” 49ers.
When the 49ers turned this nebulous launch of a season into a 12-5 barrel of fun, we were all grateful. We loved Mac Jones. We marveled at the consistency of Christian McCaffrey. We treasured Trent Williams. We loved Brock Purdy’s late-season fireworks and the Dougie.
And we grimaced with every defensive injury, over and over.
After Seattle dropped its season finale hammer on the 49ers, reality set in. It’s all too much, playing so depleted.
Take it from a Candlestick kid: not every Joe Montana season ended in glory. AMC is about to show a multi-part documentary on the Camelot 49ers of the 1980s, and you know what? Those teams had one-and-done playoff runs in 1985, 1986 and 1987. It happens.
The 49ers will be better next year, when Bosa and Warner return.
I think the 49ers will lose on Sunday. And it’s ok.
