The Philadelphia Eagles can relax a tad-bit the next two weeks as they punched their ticket to the post-season early this year. Last season, it took a miracle win by the Raiders over the Buccaneers combined with the Eagles drubbing of Dallas on the season’s final weekend. Back in 2006, it took 5-straight wins to end the season, including a victory over Atlanta on the NFL’s final week; in fact they also won the division that year. If you also remember, that was Michael Vick’s final game before serving time in a federal penitentiary. It was also the season that Jeff Garcia engineered the Eagles fantastic finish after McNabb was placed on IR after his season-ending knee injury. Now in week #15, the Eagles at least clinched a playoff spot with 2 games to play. It marks the 8th time this decade that they qualified for post-season play. Only in 2005 and 2007 had the Eagles failed to play in January. Every season under Andy Reid that Philadelphia played in the playoffs, they also had at least one win, so Reid has never played less than 2 games in any playoff year either. He is 10-7 overall, while the Eagles with QB Donovan McNabb are 9-6. The Eagles went 2-1 last year with season ending in the Arizona desert as they were defeated by the Cardinals 32-25 in the NFC Championship Game.

Now that we know that the eagles clinched a playoff spot, they may not be done playing hard. They certainly want to win out to clinch the division, ensuring at least one playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field against either the Cowboys, Giants or Packers. But even more so, if they win out and the Vikings lose 1 of their last 2 games, the Eagles would be awarded with a first-round bye, which in Andy Reid’s case, an almost guaranteed spot in the NFC Championship game. Philadelphia has 3-0 playoff record with the bye week under Reid, and also 11-0 during the regular season. They won 3-straight divisional playoff games at home from 2002-04 after the bye week. They are also 5-2 overall in divisional playoff games. If Dallas loses this week and the Eagles beat Denver, Philadelphia will clinch the NFC East this week and the last game will be for that coveted #2 playoff seed. But back to the 49ers game, a game that Philly won 27-13 and officially eliminated San Francisco. The score really doesn’t reflect on the how dominant the Eagles truly were. The Eagles forced 4 first-half turnovers and two other drives deep in 49ers territory ended with FG’s. If not for the brain-lock play on Leonard Weaver’s part, the Eagle might have had a 24-3 halftime lead. The Eagles dominated offensively, outgaining the Niners in total yards, 422-261. The only thing that San Francisco did better than Philadelphia was the play on Frank Gore, who rushed for 107 yards on 16 carries. Gore became the first player in 24 games to rush for 100+ yards against the Eagles. But the Eagles defense held their highly touted tight end, Vernon Davis to just 3 catches and 43 yards. The 49ers had no answer on defense for DeSean Jackson, who accumulated 140 receiving yards on 6 catches. Jackson also became the first Eagle to have back-to-back 140 passing yards in consecutive games since mike Quick did it in 1985.

Right out of the gate, the Eagles kickoff returner Quintin Demps ran the ball to midfield for a 48-yard return. Three straight plays to Weaver and a 6-yard run by Shady McCoy and the Eagles were in business inside the red zone at the 49ers 19-yard line. Donovan McNabb then scrambled away from the pass rush to his left and found Jackson for the first of his big completions and a 19-yard TD catch. It was also Jackson’s shortest TD of the season. Jackson beat former Eagles safety Michael Lewis on the play. San Francisco came right back with Joe Nedney kicking a long 51-yd FG. Later in the first quarter, the Eagles short third-down offense once again came up small as Michael Vick was tackled for no gain on 3rd-and-1 on their own 29-yard line. Amazingly, Andy Reid went for it on fourth down. Leonard Weaver was stuffed by Takeo Spikes and the 49ers were all set up to take the lead. But 3 plays later, San Francisco QB Alex Smith completed a short pass to Delanie Walker and Sheldon Brown made an outstanding play as the Eagles corner stropped the ball from the tight end as he was tackling him. Asante Samuel was Johnny-on-the-spot and pounced on the fumble.

With the 2nd of 4 turnovers, McNabb and the Eagles took full advantage of the mistake. After a pass interference penalty on Brent Celek by Michael Lewis Gave the Eagles a first down, McNabb went right back to the tight end. Celek ended up with a pass reception for a gain of 43 yards as he rumbled down the left sidelines before being tackled by Shawntae Spencer. Next play was another 10-yards as Jackson took a short pass down to the 49ers 23-yard line. Two plays later, McNabb found Kevin Curtis open for a reception at the 7-yardline. Yes, Curtis caught his first pass in a very long time. Then McNabb again was flushed from the pocket and raced to the end zone for a TD on his 8-yard run. The Eagles defense continued their dominant play as they forced 2 more INT’s, one by Samuel and the other by Tracy White. Both led to FG’s and a 20-3 halftime lead. The 49ers also went 0-for-11 on third down conversions. At halftime, Alex Smith’s QB rating was just 11.8. His rating was even considerably lower than the snow accumulation in the city (23 inches) the day/night before.

It was overall, as complete an Eagles victory on defense, offense and even special teams, even though the Niners held Jackson in check on punt returns as he was only able to return one punt for 6 yards (4 total punts). San Francisco did show some heart in the third quarter as they scored 10 straight points, though the TD was a direct result of a McNabb INT. After Smith was sacked by Trent Cole, he completed 3-straight passes and on play number six, he again connected with Josh Morgan for an 8-yard TD pass. All of the sudden, the score was 20-13. But early in the fourth quarter, McNabb led another clinching 4th quarter scoring drive on 8 plays and 89 yards, which took just 3:34 off the clock. The big play on 3rd-and-2 had McNabb rolling out to his right and then he threw a long laser downfield to Jackson, who caught the pass for a 59-yard gain. Leonard Weaver then bashed his way down to the 49ers 2-yard line on three straight running plays. With 3rd-and-goal from the 2, it was McCoy who followed Weaver’s block into the end zone for a TD and 27-13 lead. After that, it was the Eagles defense that shut the door on the Niners offense and ensuring another Eagles post-season playoff berth.