49ers mailbag: Does wild-card win hinge on stopping Saquon?

SANTA CLARA — Playoff football is back for the fourth time in five years, so let’s expand our 49ers Mailbag with more social-media questions than usual before Sunday’s wild-card visit to Philadelphia:

What’s the middle linebacker situation looking like? (@Niners247)

Not great, and don’t expect Fred Warner’s Hollywood-like comeback until at least the NFC Championship Game, if they reach it as the 49ers have in their past seven playoff trips since 2011. Tatum Bethune’s season-ending groin tear Saturday puts the “Mike” linebacker role in flux, again.

Presumably, Eric Kendricks will take over after his three-game onboarding since a Nov. 26 arrival. Curtis Robinson started the previous three games there but hasn’t suited up since then. With Dee Winters (ankle) also suspect and Nick Martin (concussion) on injured reserve, the 49ers are adding eighth-year veteran Kyzir White to their practice squad, where they could also call up Jalen Graham.

How does the 49ers defense stop Barkley? (@mixmastamike) Can D really stop the Eagles run game? (@jscout31)

Quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts are on the NFL’s marquee hyping this matchup, but don’t overlook Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley, the league’s rushing champions in 2023 and ’24, respectively, who’ve run for 1,202 and 1,107 yards this season.

The 49ers’ run defense is reeling, as if you didn’t see the 18 missed tackles and 180 rushing yards allowed Saturday night against Seattle. The 49ers have allowed 290 rushing yards on 61 carries over the past two games. In their five losses, opponents have averaged 33 carries for 120 rushing yards.

Do you think our defense can keep them under 21 points? Need them to step up big. (@rymacd22)

The 49ers’ best defense might be the Eagles’ offense. How’s that? The Eagles ranked 24th in both total yards and third-down efficiency. They are, however, No. 1 in the red zone, so the 49ers better not let the Hurts’ Tush Push shove them out of the playoffs.

What’s the answer for the D-line and are the linebackers good enough to get to the gaps? (@brim3205)

Bryce Huff needs to show up against an Eagles team that didn’t suit him up for last year’s Super Bowl and traded him to the 49ers in June for a fifth-round draft pick. That could have escalated to a fourth-round pick if Huff produced eight sacks, and he was halfway there through seven games. Then came a Week 7 hamstring injury, a three-game hiatus and no sacks since then.

Can our offense rebound against such a high-level defense, which we’ve struggled with this year? (@baumerbrock)

Of the 49ers’ five defeats, four were to teams with top-10 scoring defenses: No. 1 Seattle, No. 2 Houston, No. 8 Jacksonville, and No. 10 Los Angeles Rams. The Eagles rank fifth, allowing just 19.1 points per game. The 49ers can and must score more than that.

Pro tip: recreate their December 2023 visit to Philly when they scored touchdowns on six consecutive drives in a 42-19 rout and the 49ers Faithful chanted “PUR-DY! PUR-DY” as he ran into the postgame tunnel.

Will Trent play? (@jillsc13)

Left tackle Trent Williams should play through his first-ever hamstring strain, after just two weeks of recovery. He has never missed a playoff game since entering the NFL in 2010, including the 49ers’ 2021-23 postseasons and Washington’s wild-card exits in 2012 and ’15.

Who is likely to be the unsung hero next Sunday, if the 49ers can beat Philadelphia? (@michael_budd)

Jauan Jennings. He played that role in the 49ers’ last playoff game. Happened in Vegas. He caught a touchdown pass, threw a touchdown pass, and had a third-down conversion into enemy territory on a go-ahead drive. After that, well, bygones.

Do the 49ers really have the right personnel to run the Wide 9 scheme they seem to insist on continuing to use? It seems to make them susceptible to the run much more than other teams. (@marose66)

No. Defensive ends Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams were lost to anterior cruciate ligament tears long ago. For as much skepticism as has surfaced about the wide-9 formation, it’s worth recalling how the 49ers pinned in Hurts in 2023 with a more patient approach. The current defensive front has nothing but patience (and just 20 sacks).

How good are the Eagles, really? (@sandrayala)

They were in turmoil amid a three-game losing streak a month ago. Criticism abounds, as it always does in the City of Brotherly Love. But now they have a Super Bowl crown to defend, and it’s hard to shake how dominant they were in winning the NFC Championship Game (55-23 vs. Washington) and the Lombardi Trophy (40-22 vs. Kansas City).

Are they gonna throw beer cans at us again? Lol. (@bozzillyyoo)

Throwing beer cans from their tailgates is to the modern-era Eagles fans what booing Santa Claus was to their grandfather’s generation (see: 1968).

You think we have a chance? (@torres.javi24)

The Eagles are 6-6 all-time in wild-card games at home, losing three of their past four.

This is only the 49ers’ fifth-ever wild-card game on the road: 1985 loss at Giants, 2001 loss at Green Bay, 2013 win at Green Bay, 2021 win at Dallas. Their 1970 and ’86 teams opened with divisional-round games at Minnesota (win) and at the New York Giants (loss).

Can Ronnie Lott, Merton Hanks, Eric Wright, and Eric Davis all suit up for Sunday? (@d_stutes)

Regrettably, no. This is the secondary life the 49ers have chosen to live: Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green, Upton Stout, Ji’Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha. They’ve combined for five interceptions, one forced fumble, and one sack, while allowing 13 touchdown passes and yielding inconsistent run support.

Honestly what are our chances of winning? (@sunshine_curveballs)

The 49ers are widely seen as 3 1/2-point underdogs. The only bigger spread was in Week 5, when the host Rams were favored by nine points but lost 26-23 in overtime on a walk-off tackle on fourth down.

Do you see the Niners addressing the need at WR through FA, then hammering defensive linemen and linebackers in the draft? (@Fishnet79)

Yes, defensive end must be top priority, but save the offseason questions for another week or two, literally, because …

Niners winning for sure but what’s your score prediction Cam? (@jose_eduardo0330)

Initially, it was: Eagles 41, 49ers 27.

Then I realized the Niners’ illogical, improbable path to 12 wins, so in this Bizarro World, it will be 49ers advancing 29-23.

My 2025 record: 175-96-1 straight up, 137-134-1 against the spread.