Eagles Season Ends With 23-19 Loss To 49ers And Plenty Of Questions

PHILADELPHIA – All that’s left now are the questions after the Eagles’ season ended in a 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. The 49ers (13-5) will move on to play the NFC’s top seed, Seattle Seahawks next weekend. The Rams will go to Chicago. The Eagles (11-7) will go home.

The offense, as it has been all season, was unreliable, and leads to the first question: Will an offense that went three-and-out three times in the second half cost offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo his job?

Even when the Eagles managed a first down in the second half, all they could do was settle for a 41-yard field goal despite a 25-yard punt by Thomas Morstead that set Philly up in plus territory at the 46. It gave them a 16-10 lead that was erased on San Fran’s next possession on a double-reverse touchdown pass from Jauan Jennings to Christian McCaffrey from 29 yards. The play came on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was the first of two receiving TDs for McCaffrey.

Quinyon Mitchell had two interceptions, but the Eagles offense could only score three points off them. His first set them up near midfield. The offense went backward and had to punt.

His second led to a 33-yard field goal with 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter that gave the Eagles a 19-17 lead. It’s hard to win a playoff game settling for field goals.

Quinyon Mitchell Has Two Picks

As for Mitchell, it was his first game since being named to his first first-team Associated Press All-Pro team. His two picks gave him four in the postseason in just five career playoff games. He doesn’t have any in 32 career regular-season games. He also gave up his first TD of the season, a 2-yard throw to Demarcus Robinson to open the game's scoring.

The Eagles took a 13-10 lead at halftime behind a pair of Dallas Goedert touchdowns to give him 13 this season. His first was on a 1-yard rush. His second was a 9-yard catch. The run and catch scores made him the first tight end in NFL playoff history to rush for a touchdown.

That’s another question: Will Goedert return after signing an undervalued, one-year contract last offseason? How about safety Reed Blankenship, whose contract is up?

Then, there’s A.J. Brown, who had at least two drops, including on third-and-four with 2:25 to play in the game inside 49ers territory. Will he return or be traded? If this was his Eagles swan song, he went out with three catches for 25 yards on seven targets.

How about Jake Elliott? The kicker missed a PAT after the Eagles’ first touchdown. While he rebounded to make field goals from 41 and 33 yards. His PAT miss forced the Eagles to go for a fouth-and-11 at the San Fran 21 rather than attempt a field goal to tie with less than a minute to play and potentially force overtime.

The fourth-down pass fell incomplete with Jalen Hurts trying to find Goedert over the middle.

The Eagles quarterback, who fell to 6-4 in the postseason, finished 20-for-35 for 168 yards and a passer rating of 79.2.

Saquon Barkley rushed for 106 yards and became the franchise’s all-time rushing leader in the postseason with 605 yards in five games, surpassing Brian Westbrook’s record of 591 yards, done in 11 games from 2002-09.

That’s another question: Where was that sort of production all season?

There’s plenty of time to answer those and other questions as the Eagles head into an early offseason.

More NFL: Touchdown-Maker Scores Twice To Help Eagles Open 13-10 Halftime Lead Vs. 49ers