Wild Card weekend offers no soft landings, and for the San Francisco 49ers, the road could not be more demanding.
A cross-country flight. Lincoln Financial Field. The reigning Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, waiting.
Philadelphia enters as NFC East champions with a familiar playoff blueprint, one built around tempo, physicality, and an offense that wants to impose its will early.
For the Eagles, everything still begins with Saquon Barkley despite a down year. But come this time of year, Philadelphia wants to lean on him as both hammer and eraser, forcing defenses to condense and react.