Philadelphia can formally punch their postseason ticket as soon as this weekend.
The Philadelphia Eagles can officially clinch a playoff berth as soon as this weekend.
The Birds obviously have their sights set higher than merely qualifying for the postseason. Acquiring the No. 1 seed is the real goal.
But there are steps to take before getting to that point and this is one of them.
Relevant Week 14 games to the Eagles’ clinching scenarios
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (-3.5) [Thursday Night Football]
Carolina Panthers at Philadelphia Eagles (-12.5) [1:00 PM]
Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings (-5.5) [1:00 PM]
Las Vegas Raiders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-6.5) [1:00 PM]
Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals (-2.5) [4:05 PM]
Buffalo Bills (-4.5) at Los Angeles Rams [4:25 PM]
10 ways the Eagles can officially clinch
1) Eagles win AND Falcons loss or tie AND Seahawks-Cardinals tie
2) Eagles win AND Falcons loss or tie AND Cardinals loss AND Rams loss or tie
3) Eagles win AND Falcons loss or tie AND Cardinals loss AND Lions win or tie
4) Eagles win AND Buccaneers loss or tie AND Seahawks-Cardinals tie
5) Eagles win AND Buccaneers loss or tie AND Cardinals loss AND Rams loss or tie
6) Eagles win AND Buccaneers loss or tie AND Cardinals loss AND Lions win or tie
7) Eagles tie AND Falcons loss AND Seahawks-Cardinals tie
8) Eagles tie AND Falcons loss AND Cardinals loss AND Rams loss or tie
9) Eagles tie AND Buccaneers loss AND Seahawks-Cardinals tie
10) Eagles tie AND Buccaneers loss AND Cardinals loss AND Rams loss or tie
Preferred outcome
The scenarios where the Eagles only manage to tie the Carolina Panthers certainly aren’t ideal. So, let’s disregard those.
From the remaining six, the Eagles don’t want to see the Bucs overtake the Falcons for the NFC South; Tampa is unquestionably a bigger threat than Atlanta. Also, the Eagles would prefer to see the Vikings lose so that they don’t remain in contention for the No. 1 seed. So, let’s disregard the first three scenarios.
From the remaining three, the Eagles don’t want to see Detroit win. The Lions losing to the Packers would be really big for the Eagles’ chances of getting the No. 1 seed. So, let’s eliminate that scenario.
From the remaining two, the fifth one is the best because it involves the Eagles winning, the Bucs losing, and the Seahawks winning to increase their NFC West lead (which further prevents the San Francisco 49ers from staging an unlikely comeback). And then the Rams game isn’t of much consequence.
So, if you really care about the Eagles officially making the postseason this weekend, here’s the optimal scenario to root for:
5) Eagles win AND Buccaneers loss or tie AND Cardinals loss AND Rams loss or tie.
Future clinching considerations
The Eagles will have an opportunity to clinch the NFC East — and possibly more — as soon as Week 15. The great Deniz Selman outlined as much earlier this week:
#Eagles clinch NFC East with ANY of the following:
win over WAS
*or*
any 2 (division wins + WAS division losses)
*or*
any 3 (wins + WAS losses)Eagles can clinch being no worse than NFC 2 seed by Week 15 with: 2 wins (CAR, PIT) + WAS loss (@ NO) + at least 1 SEA loss (@ ARI, GB)
— Deniz Selman (@denizselman33) December 2, 2024
