Golden Nuggets: Who do you think will be the X-factor on Sunday?

Omenihu back with 49ers, preparing for playoff game vs. Eagles

“Members of the organization have looked into the allegations involving Omenihu and the club decided no immediate actions were warranted, Shanahan said.”

49ers RBs McCaffrey, Mitchell sit out practice on Wednesday

“I expect them to but there’s no guarantees, especially with it being the NFC Championship Game,” Shanahan said. “I think there’s a better chance they’ll be ready since there’s nothing guaranteed after this. So, hopefully. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

49ers hope Brock Purdy’s silent-count experience in Seattle helps in raucous Philadelphia (paywall)

“The Eagles defensive linemen are a little bigger and they play a more gap-sound style, one that forces an offense to advance the ball in a more piecemeal fashion....“The Cowboys are trying to get penetration, create chaos while the Eagles are more bend but don’t break,” Brunskill said. “They’re trying to play their gap, they’re trying to play good football, they’re trying to hold gap defense and make you earn your way down the field.”..Philadelphia also is one of the many teams that uses a system inspired by former 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, one that prefers five-man fronts and even has a five-man nickel front (Fangio is working as a defensive consultant for the Eagles this season). It’s a style that was credited with slowing offenses and tamping down leaguewide scoring early in the season, but one the 49ers are familiar with after playing the Broncos, Chargers and Rams (twice). The Seahawks also use elements of that system.”

Kawakami: Fred Warner leads the 49ers in so many ways, it’s hard to count them all (but let’s try) (paywall)

“Warner’s responsibilities are so large that Kyle Shanahan freely speaks about turning the team over to Warner to wrap up halftime talks.”

NFC Championship roundtable: How the Eagles or 49ers can reach Super Bowl LVII (paywall)

“One note on the Eagles’ run defense: Things changed significantly after the team signed Linval Joseph in the aftermath of its loss to Washington in Week 10 when Jordan Davis was on injured reserve. The Eagles’ splits from Weeks 1-10 and since Week 11, including the playoffs, are stark. Before Joseph, they had a defensive success rate of 54.8 percent on runs and a defensive EPA (expected points added) per rush of -0.07. Over the course of a full season, that would be good for 32nd in the league and 31st, respectively. Post-Joseph, they have a defensive success rate of 65.4 percent against runs and a defensive EPA per rush of 0.13. Those would be good for second and third in the league, respectively, over the course of a full season. I think Jonathan Gannon will be more concerned with surrendering explosive plays against play-action over the middle of the field than Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell running on them all afternoon.”

Berman: Should Eagles’ Haason Reddick have been a Defensive Player of the Year candidate? (paywall)

“Purdy was a four-year starter at Iowa State. The Eagles have close ties to the Cyclones. Sirianni was a teammate (and roommate) at Mount Union with Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, and he’s close with coaches on the staff. The Eagles have two defensive assistants (D.K. McDonald and Tyler Scudder) who came from Iowa State.”

Commanders offensive coordinator search: Team requests to speak to 49ers assistant Anthony Lynn, per report

“The Washington Commanders are searching for a new offensive coordinator, and they have requested to speak to some experienced offensive minds, the most recent being San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach/running backs coach Anthony Lynn, per The Washington Post.”

49ers DE Nick Bosa named PFWA Defensive Player of the Year

““Bosa, in his fourth season, is the PFWA’s Defensive Player of the Year for the first time, and the honor is the third by a 49ers player (CB Deion Sanders; 1994 and DT Dana Stubblefield; 1997) since the award was instituted in 1992,” the PFWA wrote in the announcement of its award recipients. “He is the first defensive end to win the award since Jacksonville’s Calais Campbell in 2017, and he is the 12th overall defensive end presented the PFWA Defensive Player of the Year honor.

Lisa McCaffrey, Ashley Adamson’s ‘Your Mom’ podcast champions moms of superstar athletes (paywall)

“A staple of “Your Mom” episodes features sharing a video or text message from the child of the mother. So when the red-hot 49ers were preparing for the playoffs, Nick Bosa still hadn’t sent his video for Cheryl.

Lisa didn’t want to, but she knew she had to text Christian to approach Nick in the locker room and remind him.

“It’s an important part of the show,” Lisa said. “It’s a treat for their mom to hear how they feel about them. I did ask him to ask Nick for a video, of course, on the most stressful week ever.”

(There is a plan to have Cheryl Bosa back for another episode sometime soon, when she’ll get to watch the video of Nick that arrived a little too late.)

The pair surprised a teary-eyed Peggy Shanahan when they aired a heartfelt thanks from her son Kyle, the 49ers coach, in late October.”

How did 49ers GM John Lynch go from his suite to the field so fast? We retraced his steps (paywall)

“We made it in 2 minutes, 3 seconds, five seconds faster than the gap between Fox’s two shots of Lynch that caused all that buzz on social media. The route was a simple one. It took 25 seconds to reach the elevator bank from Lynch’s suite. The elevator ride from the eighth floor to the first floor took about 24 seconds, and the walk down the field-level tunnel through the BNY Mellon Club to the 49ers’ sideline was the longest leg. That took 1:14.”