–One of the best games of the season will be played Sunday, but it won’t be in prime time. The 49ers will go to Philadelphia for a rematch of last year’s NFC title game. It will be the doubleheader game on Fox, which means the network probably protected the game. It is a virtual national game because the only other Fox game in that time slot will be Cleveland at the Rams. Carolina plays at Tampa Bay at 4 pmbut it will be shown on CBS and the Bucs are blacking it out. With the Eagles at 10-1 and the 49ers at 8-3, there is a lot at stake. A loss would knock the 49ers out of the battle for the top seed. There is backstory too because the Eagles beat the 49es in the NFC title game last year after Brock Purdy was injured early and their backup, Josh Johnson, went out in third quarter with a concussion and Purdy had to finish the game and only handoff. The Eagles won in a rout, 31-7, but the 49ers felt they would have won if Purdy hadn’t gotten hurt. Now the Eagles want to prove they can beat them with Purdy healthy.
–There are 12 other games this weekend with six teams having byes but none of the games are must watch TV. The weekend starts with Seattle at Dallas Thursday night, which figures to be an easy win for the Cowboys. If they win and the Eagles lose to the 49ers, first place will be stake next week when the Cowboys host the Eagles next week.
–In the Sunday night game, the Chiefs go to Green Bay in a matchup of the two teams that played in the first Super Bowl. And while Jordan Love is showing good potential, he is no match for Patrick Mahomes so the Chiefs figure to win.
–In the Monday night game, Cincinnati is at Jacksonville, which would have been e a good game if Joe Burrow was healthy. Without him, the Jaguars figure to win easily.
–The rest of the games won’t get much attention. Miami and Detroit figure to beat Washington and the Saints to go to 9-3 and Pittsburgh is likely to go to 8-4 by beating the Cardinals so it remains to be seen if there are any major upsets.