PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brock Purdy threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffery late in the fourth quarter, the San Francisco 49ers used a trick play on a touchdown pass from wide receiver Jauan Jennings, and the Niners eliminated the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles with a 23-19 victory in the NFC Wild Card Round on Sunday.
The 49ers will visit the No. 1 seed Seattle Seahawks next weekend for the NFC Divisional Round. The NFC West rivals split the series during the regular season.
Purdy threw for 262 yards and earned the road victory in Philadelphia that he couldn’t get three seasons ago when he was injured in a disastrous performance at Eagles Stadium in a loss in the NFC Championship Game.
Purdy had two passes intercepted in this game by All-Pro cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, but the Eagles only scored three points off turnovers.
The 49ers will be without tight end George Kittle in Seattle, who was carted off the field with a right Achilles tendon injury late in the first half.
The Eagles, who won a Super Bowl with a trick play, took the bait with one when Jennings received the ball and ran to the right and lofted a pass to McCaffery for a 29-yard touchdown. The score on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the 49ers a 17-16 lead.
The Eagles only managed Jake Elliott’s 33-yard field goal in the quarter for a brief 19-17 lead.
Philadelphia was once again condemned for a poor offensive effort that cost it a chance to repeat the championship. Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts threw for just 168 yards and a touchdown, and the Eagles failed to build on a 13-10 halftime lead by amassing just 36 total third-quarter yards in 16 plays.
Hurts failed on a desperate fourth-and-11 attempt with 43 seconds left that ended his final offensive series.
