The San Francisco 49ers are traveling East to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
While the 49ers defense and the Eagles defense are a matchup of struggling units, the other side of the ball is the much more fascinating matchup. Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers offense against Vic Fangio and the Eagles defense is a great matchup this weekend.
But, as Shane Senior of Chat Sports shared on Twitter/x, there is cause for concern for the 49ers in this matchup. Shanahan’s history against Fangio doesn’t bode well for the 49ers’ chances this weekend.
49ers face concerning Kyle Shanahan, Vic Fangio history amid playoff matchup vs. Eagles.
“Kyle Shanahan has faced Vic Fangio four times,” Senior notes, “Shanahan’s offense in those games scored: 11 points, 6 points, 15 points, and 9 points.”
In their long NFL coaching careers, when Fangio and Shanahan are on opposing sidelines, the defense typically gets the better of the offense.
15 points is not a lot, and it’s by far the most a Shanahan offense has scored against Fangio’s defense over the years.
While their last matchup came in 2018, and there are a lot of differences from their initial matchups until now, there is some history between the two, and it’s not great for the 49ers.
More: Shanahan-era trend haunts 49ers again in NFC West loss
The Eagles’ defense is their strength, and if the 49ers offense cannot get much going, then winning in the wild card over Philadelphia will prove to be very difficult.
Christian McCaffrey will need to have a huge game this weekend, as the Eagles’ run defense is suspect at times, and he could rattle off some consistent chunk gains to wear down the Fangio defense.
Even though the Eagles’ offense isn’t impressive, the 49ers are facing an uphill battle this weekend thanks to Fangio and the stout Eagles defense.
