play0:2849ers stop Eagles on 4th down to clinch victoryEric Kendricks makes a great play on defense to stop the Eagles from scoring and secure the 49ers’ 23-19 win vs. the Eagles.
play0:24Travis Etienne Jr. shakes off a tackle attempt to put Jags back up late in 4thTrevor Lawrence finds Travis Etienne Jr., who powers through a tackle attempt to give the Jaguars a lead with a little over four minutes remaining.
play0:27Bears pull within 3 after TD to ZaccheausCaleb Williams throws a beautiful pass to Olamide Zaccheaus for the Bears touchdown, and the two-point conversion is good.
play1:19Should Rams be concerned after tight win over Panthers?Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi, Rex Ryan and Randy Moss discuss the Rams’ 34-31 wild-card win over the Panthers.
Dan GrazianoCloseDan Grazianosenior NFL national reporterDan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels.Follow on XBen SolakCloseBen SolakESPNBen Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.Jan 11, 2026, 08:25 PM ET
Purdy finds McCaffrey for TD to put 49ers ahead late (0:17)Brock Purdy throws a touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey to give the 49ers the lead late in the fourth quarter vs. the Eagles. (0:17)
49ers stop Eagles on 4th down to clinch victoryEric Kendricks makes a great play on defense to stop the Eagles from scoring and secure the 49ers’ 23-19 win vs. the Eagles.
Eric Kendricks makes a great play on defense to stop the Eagles from scoring and secure the 49ers’ 23-19 win vs. the Eagles.
Travis Etienne Jr. shakes off a tackle attempt to put Jags back up late in 4thTrevor Lawrence finds Travis Etienne Jr., who powers through a tackle attempt to give the Jaguars a lead with a little over four minutes remaining.
Trevor Lawrence finds Travis Etienne Jr., who powers through a tackle attempt to give the Jaguars a lead with a little over four minutes remaining.
Bears pull within 3 after TD to ZaccheausCaleb Williams throws a beautiful pass to Olamide Zaccheaus for the Bears touchdown, and the two-point conversion is good.
Caleb Williams throws a beautiful pass to Olamide Zaccheaus for the Bears touchdown, and the two-point conversion is good.
Should Rams be concerned after tight win over Panthers?Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi, Rex Ryan and Randy Moss discuss the Rams’ 34-31 wild-card win over the Panthers.
Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi, Rex Ryan and Randy Moss discuss the Rams’ 34-31 wild-card win over the Panthers.
The NFL playoffs are officially underway. The Rams narrowly edged the Panthers, and the Bears took down the NFC North-rival Packers in a wild comeback. On Sunday, the Bills held off the Jaguars before the 49ers took down the defending champion Eagles.
What are the main lessons and takeaways from each wild-card matchup, and what’s next for these teams? We asked national NFL reporter Dan Graziano and NFL analyst Ben Solak to help size up every matchup from the opening round and look forward from all angles. For each wild-card game, Solak is answering one big remaining question and Graziano is judging the legitimacy of one potential overreaction.
Let’s jump in, making sense of the Eagles’ potential offensive changes, the Bills’ Super Bowl window, the Jaguars’ rushing attack, Caleb Williams’ growth and Bryce Young’s future. And check back all weekend for more snap reactions as games happen.
Find me a team that has been through more than the Bills. Find me a team that’s hungrier. Find me a team that’s more certain it can do what it takes to win games this time of year. Find me another team with Josh Allen. — Graziano
Travis Etienne Jr. shakes off a tackle attempt to put Jags back up late in 4th
At the end of the day, the Jaguars lost a brutally close game to an excellent Bills team. As with all losing teams, there were plenty of little things they could have done better. But someone has to lose the ballgames, and Jacksonville — despite its truly excellent season and legitimate Year 1 leap under Coen — drew the shorter straw Sunday. — Solak
Williams should continue improving with this group around him and Johnson coaching him. If next season’s Bears win 12 or more, and Williams wins five or six of those in the final two minutes, he can be the darling of the MVP voting body. There are a lot of “ifs” there, sure, but this isn’t far-fetched. — Graziano
The lingering question: What’s wrong — and right — with Ben Johnson’s fourth-down decision-making?
The fourth-down haters were out in full force at the end of the first half, as Johnson’s Bears went 1-for-4 there, including a failed fourth-and-5 at their 32-yard line. This was a particularly aggressive call. The NFL Next Gen Stats model favored a punt, while the ESPN model very, very narrowly favored a “go.”
Should Johnson have gone for all those early fourth downs? I’m not sure. The defense felt as if it had no stops in it, but as evidenced by the second half, it did. It’s hard to know from the outside what goes into every decision.
What we can say confidently is that the Bears were making massive, easy mistakes on fourth down. The interception targeting Luther Burden III on fourth-and-6 came because the rookie receiver was confused at the line. The second-half fourth-and-1 failure in the red zone was a result of a blown pass protection. Even the fourth-and-5, way backed up, looked like a huge Burden catch-and-run … until the ball was tipped at the line.
All of that said, it’s too soon for the Panthers to commit. If Young wants to sign a Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield type of deal, go ahead and do that, Carolina. Well worth it, given the promise Young showed this season and the investment the team has already made in him. But if he wants Tua Tagovailoa money? Uh-uh.
Young doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who needs the affirmation that would come with the long-term deal. I’m sure he knows a ton of things he can do better and looks forward to a chance to work on them. Heck, he’s better off waiting and having an even better year in 2026 and negotiating off that. Big hat tip to Young and the Panthers, but it’s still way early. — Graziano
Should Rams be concerned after tight win over Panthers?
Of course, the Rams have struggled with turnovers against Carolina, as well: three takeaways in the first game, then one (plus the blocked punt) in the second game. In general, the Panthers do well discouraging the play-action pass and forcing Matthew Stafford to play more patiently. And when he plays patiently, he’s forced to scramble more or take more checkdowns — not his preferred style of play. — Solak
Yes, overreaction. The 49ers are an easy team to like and respect. They are TOUGH tough. They’ve been without their two best players on defense (linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa) for months. They played more than a month without quarterback Brock Purdy. Tight end George Kittle was in and out of the lineup all season — and he’s now out for however long their season continues after tearing his Achilles in Philadelphia. It is a straight-up miracle they’re one of the eight divisional-round teams, and they deserve admiration for the extent to which they’ve been able to fashion chicken salad out of … well, everything that’s happened to them this year.
Will it help that left tackle Trent Williams, who didn’t play in Week 18, should play next week? Sure. But they still won’t have Kittle, and their run game isn’t very good without him. Running back Christian McCaffrey remains a playmaker for Brock Purdy in the pass game, but they averaged 3.5 yards per rush attempt in Sunday’s win. That’s not out of character for them, as they averaged 3.8 in the regular season (30th in the NFL). They’re limited in what they can do on offense, and the Seahawks have the kind of defense that can take advantage of that.
It was a fitting end for a 2025 Eagles team that was never as good as its benefit of the doubt. Even as they marched down for the go-ahead score, you just never felt like they were going to get it. A child born during the third quarter of this game could have figured out they were going to Dallas Goedert on the final play, and they did despite him being triple-covered. It was peak 2025 Eagles — no creativity, no juice. They weren’t a great team, they just won a lousy division. Meanwhile, the Seahawks won the only division in NFL history in which three teams won at least 12 games. Kudos to Kyle Shanahan, Robert Saleh & Co. for getting as far as they got with their roster crumbling around them. But it’s only going to get tougher from here. — Graziano
There is no worse-kept secret in the NFL that there is frustration internally and externally with the Eagles’ offensive coaching this season. Coordinator Kevin Patullo, promoted to replace the outgoing Kellen Moore, has been a longtime assistant for coach Nick Sirianni. But Patullo was evidently underqualified for his role. Wide receiver A.J. Brown was visibly upset to varying degrees throughout the year. Running back Saquon Barkley was not nearly as productive as he was last season. Quarterback Jalen Hurts continued to struggle throwing to the middle of the field.
There will almost certainly be a new offensive coordinator in Philadelphia next season — the fifth in five years. But perhaps the greatest question is if anything else will be new in the Eagles offense? Brown, who went over 20 minutes of game clock in the second half without a target and was caught by cameras arguing with Sirianni on the sideline, was a rumored target for many teams at the trade deadline. He represents a substantial dead cap ($66.9 million) if traded, and would likely have to collaborate with the Eagles’ front office and finagle the finances if he demands a trade.