The Philadelphia Eagles are just one game away from reaching the Super Bowl for the second time in six seasons. A win against the San Francisco 49ers next week will see them crowned NFC Champions once again, but what happened the last time the Eagles were in this situation?
Eagles vs Vikings: NFC Championship
January 21st, 2018. The Minnesota Vikings rolled into Philadelphia with ‘Skol’ chants and statements of a city takeover. It didn’t take long for the noise to be drowned out by a roaring Philadelphia crowd, as 69,000 stood up and welcomed their Birds to the field.
Many thought the game was over as soon as ‘Dreams and Nightmares’ bellowed out, and to be honest, they were right.
The Vikings opened the scoring, but it would be their only touchdown of the game. Case Keenum later threw a pass that was picked off by Patrick Robinson, who took it all the way to the house and opened the floodgates for Nick Foles and the offense to pour through.
The improbable underdogs humiliated the Vikings, scoring 38 unanswered points to win 38-7. Nick Foles accounted for 353 yards of passing, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions as he put on a passing clinic like no other.
Jay Ajayi led the team in rushing, while Torrey Smith’s heroic touchdown catch stands out as one of the most prolific memories of the night. The former Niners wideout caught a perfectly thrown flea-ficker pass for a touchdown to begin the third quarter, making the score 31-7 and acting as the nail in the coffin.
The unthinkable had happened. The Philadelphia Eagles, without Carson Wentz and a plethora of other big names, had taken down the Minnesota Vikings to win the NFC Championship. It was the first time the Eagles had won the conference title since they beat the Falcons back in 2004.
From there, the Eagles would go on to face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52. We all know what happened next, but we’ll revisit that later this week just for fun…
Going into this week’s game, the Eagles are 3-4 in NFC Championship games. But we all know that this team isn’t like anything we’ve seen before. The Birds ended with the best record in the NFC and tied for first in the entire league with the Chiefs. Had it not been for a late injury to Jalen Hurts, may well have garnered the reputation as the best team in all of football.
They’ll have their chance at proving that they’re the pride of the NFC this weekend in a clash with Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers. From the return of DeMeco Ryans, to the storied history between the two teams, there is plenty to look forward to as far as the 2022 NFC Championship is concerned.
Eagles vs 49ers: NFC Championship betting offers
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