The Philadelphia Eagles are the only* NFC team yet to play in Week 14; they’ll be in action against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football. *Not counting three NFC teams that had a bye.
In the meantime, let’s discuss the updated NFL playoff picture.
Good results for the Eagles from Week 14
- The Dallas Cowboys losing to the Detroit Lions. We already discussed the impact of this result after Thursday night’s game.
- The Chicago Bears losing to the Green Bay Packers. The Bears have a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Eagles, so, it’s not ideal for Chicago to be ahead of them. The Packers are now ahead of the Eagles but the path to Philly moving ahead of Green Bay is more feasible by comparison. If the Eagles win on Monday night, they’ll be just half of a game back on the Pack.
- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers losing to the New Orleans Saints. The Eagles falling to the No. 4 seed wouldn’t be good because it would likely mean having to host the NFC West second place finisher in the Wild Card round. The Eagles don’t want to see the Seattle Seahawks or the Los Angeles Rams in their first playoff game. The Bucs losing makes it more likely that either them or the Carolina Panthers will be the lowest division winner. The Eagles hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bucs.
- The Washington Commanders losing to the Minnesota Vikings. The Commanders are now OFFICIALLY eliminated from playoff contention after a 31 to 0 loss on Sunday. This is relevant to the Eagles because it gives Washington less motivation (in theory, at least) over their final four games. The Eagles and Commanders meet in Week 16 and Week 18. If Washington was smart, they’d shut down Jayden Daniels, who got banged up again. But they might be stubborn and play him anyway. As an added bonus, the Vikings are still in playoff contention. They should be motivated to beat the Dallas Cowboys in Week 15, though they’re currently 6.5-point road underdogs in that matchup.
- The Seattle Seahawks beating the Atlanta Falcons. The Seahawks temporarily moved to No. 1 in the conference with their win over the Falcons. They’re currently No. 5 after the Los Angeles Rams won to overtake the top spot in the NFC West. The Eagles need Seattle to stop winning.
- The Los Angeles Rams beating the Arizona Cardinals. The Eagles have a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rams but that much obviously doesn’t matter if LA has a better record than the Birds, which they currently do.
Here’s the entire updated NFC playoff picture. Note that if the season ended today, which it doesn’t, the Eagles (No. 3) would host the 49ers (No. 6) in the Wild Card round.
PROJECTED PLAYOFF TEAMS
DIVISION LEADERS
1) Los Angeles Rams: 10-3
2) Green Bay Packers: 9-3-1
3) Philadelphia Eagles: 8-4*
4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 7-6
*The Eagles are 1.5-point road favorites against the Chargers on Monday night.
WILD CARD TEAMS
5) Seattle Seahawks: 10-3
6) San Francisco 49ers: 9-4
7) Chicago Bears: 9-4
…
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
IN THE HUNT
8) Detroit Lions: 8-5
9) Carolina Panthers: 7-6
10) Dallas Cowboys: 6-6-1
UNSERIOUS
11) Minnesota Vikings: 5-8
OFFICIALLY ELIMINATED
12) Atlanta Falcons: 4-9
13) Arizona Cardinals: 3-10
14) New Orleans Saints: 3-10
15) Washington Commanders: 3-10
16) New York Giants: 2-11
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