Soaring from the ashes, meet your NFC Champions: The Eagles

The 49ers were highly toted team coming into the NFC Championship round. Their quarterback Brock Purdy, was playing ridiculous football, and looked very likely to be a future Tom Brady: A back-up who could lead his team to a Super Bowl. 

    Nope. The Eagles had none of that. They Purdy much destroyed the Niners exposed team. (Now that I have my stupid Purdy pun out of the way, we can continue with the post.) Haason Reddick ended the threat of a Purdy attack pretty early on in the game. He stripped the young San Fransisco quarterback, and injured his elbow in the process. Then came in Josh Johnson, a quarterback who's been with 14 teams, in 15 years. Obviously, this kind of player would not really help the Niners, but they were desperate to head to another Super Bowl, what would have been their second in four years. Reddick did the same thing to Johnson, as he did to Purdy. Well not exactly the same thing. Johnson left the game with a concussion. 

    The 49ers finished the game with Christian McCaffrey playing in a wildcat formation occasionally, and Purdy handing off the ball 24/7. The one throw Purdy had after his injury was a short screen. On the other hand, Jalen Hurts only had 15 pass attempts for only 121 yards. He wasn't great, but it was the run game that gashed San Fransisco's acclaimed defense. The Eagles run game forced 148 yards and four touchdowns. Although DeVonta Smith did have a dropped pass that was marked as a catch, the game was virtually flawless. 

    

It wasn't perfect, but Jalen Hurts confidently led his team past San Fransisco

Photo Credit: The Sporting News 

    Actually, that's an understatement. The game went perfectly well until Jalen Hurts hoisted the George Halas trophy, and let this fly out. (video taken from the Fox Sports YouTube Page) The fact that the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles can barely sing his own fight song is pretty sad, embarrassing, actually. But that was virtually it.

    The game, which was supposed to be an incredibly epic, high-scoring game, was actually pretty low key. Boston Scott, Jalen Hurts, and Miles Sanders, all slipped into the end zone, Sanders doing it twice. The only touchdown San Fransisco could muster was a brilliant, powerful touchdown, by McCaffrey. He bulldozed his way into the end zone, running over anyone in his path. That was it. The Eagles defense allowed only 164 yards, and shut down, a team that analyzers were raving of. The Niners were good, but they never had faced a team like Philly before, the hardest team they beat being Dallas.

    The Eagles produced 264 yards of offense on the best defense in the league. They trolled what was supposed to be a good team 31-7. In a couple weeks, in the Kelce Bowl, (because the Kelce brothers will play each other, just like the Manning Bowl) the Eagles will play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The game of all games. Every football player's dream. The Eagles, only a couple weeks before, had been written out. They lost two games in a row, and scampered into the number one seed. They did not look like a threat in the playoffs. It was crazy that the top team in the NFC was the underdog, but they were. Jalen Hurts silenced any doubters saying that he couldn't do it; lead his team to a Super Bowl. 

    Well next stop? The State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona, and Super Bowl LVII. 

The above photo was taken from a Sporting News article. Photographer not given on page. Image taken and used for commentary.