by After 56 minutes of frustrating 49ers football, tempers flared in Sunday’s NFC championship game.
With the game almost over in Philadelphia’s favor, the Eagles stopped San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey trailing a first down on a third down run late in the fourth quarter. Multiple scrums broke out after the game, eventually leading to removals for both teams.
Eagles and 49ers players continued to join in a second scrum long after the first whistle had blown. At that point, Trent Williams had apparently seen enough. The San Francisco 49ers left tackle grabbed Eagles safety K’Von Wallace and then slammed him to the turf. Wallace, apparently unfazed after being thrown to the ground by a 320-pound man, resurfaced and immediately threw a punch.
Williams was out of range by then, and Wallace’s punch hit the facemask of 49ers left guard Aaron Banks. Williams, meanwhile, traded blows with other Eagles players who did not take kindly to his aggression.
49ers players then poured onto the field from the sidelines, while the Eagles bench players were restrained by their coaching staff. Philadelphia still has something to play for.
After several flags flew, the case was finally dispersed. Officials over the Lincoln Financial Field loudspeakers urged “both teams to the sidelines, please”. Once the dust settled, officials called Williams and Wallace for compensation for unnecessary roughness fines. Both players were sent off. Play eventually resumed and Deebo Samuel fumbled for the next play.
The incident did not affect the outcome of the game, which the Eagles led by a final margin of 31–7 at the time. Philadelphia struck first, then injured both of San Francisco’s starting quarterbacks in a game that quickly spiraled out of control. A 49ers defense that dominated opposing offenses all season had no answer to an offense by the Eagles that scored four touchdowns on the ground. The San Francisco offense, meanwhile, didn’t stand a chance, as it was forced to play an injured Brock Purdy after running out of healthy quarterbacks.
This was not what the 49ers expected or signed up for with a chance at the Super Bowl on the line. It’s no surprise that the simmering tension eventually boiled over with the game spiraling out of control.
