The Philadelphia Eagles entered Week 10 as the top team in the NFC playoff picture and they remained in that spot by narrowly defeating the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.
With eight games left to play, the Eagles control their path to getting a first-round bye. As it currently stands, they merely need to win all of their remaining games to clinch home field advantage in the 2026 NFL playoffs.
Of course, winning out isn’t likely. But the Eagles do have some factors working in their favor in the event that they don’t go undefeated in the rest of the regular season.
For starters, the Eagles have head-to-head tiebreakers over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams. They also have one over the Packers … but that probably won’t matter because the Eagles and Packers likely won’t finish with an identical record since Green Bay will have a tie in theirs.
The Eagles also currently have the tiebreaker over the Seattle Seahawks, who they don’t play in the regular season, with the superior winning percentage in conferences games: 6-1 (.857) > 4-2 (.667).
The Rams and Seahawks, who are each 7-2 through their first nine games, currently pose the biggest threat to the Eagles in the top spot. The good news for Philadelphia is that Los Angeles has the NFL’s sixth-toughest remaining schedule and Seattle has the seventh-toughest remaining schedule. The Rams and Seahawks still have two games against each other, including a Week 11 matchup.
The other big threat to watch is the Detroit Lions, who will be visiting Lincoln Financial Field this weekend. If the Eagles can beat Dan Campbell’s squad, though, that’ll be another huge head-to-head tiebreaker in Philly’s favor.
While the Eagles should be focused on getting the first-round bye, it can’t be taken for granted how they’re closing in on the first NFC East repeat title since 2004. The Eagles’ magic number (meaning, the combined number of Eagles wins PLUS Dallas Cowboys losses) required to clinch the division is five. If the Eagles win their next two games (vs. Lions, at Cowboys) and the Cowboys lose their next two games (at Las Vegas Raiders, vs. Eagles), the Birds can clinch the NFC East as soon as Week 13 with either a Cowboys loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving OR an Eagles win over the Chicago Bears on Black Friday.
Here’s the entire current NFC playoff picture.
PROJECTED PLAYOFF TEAMS
DIVISION LEADERS
1) Philadelphia Eagles: 7-2
2) Seattle Seahawks: 7-2
3) Detroit Lions: 6-3
4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6-3
WILD CARD TEAMS
5) Los Angeles Rams: 7-2
6) Chicago Bears: 6-3
7) Green Bay Packers: 5-3-1
…
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
IN THE HUNT
8) San Francisco 49ers: 6-4
9) Carolina Panthers: 5-5
10) Minnesota Vikings: 4-5
11) Dallas Cowboys: 3-5-1
12) Arizona Cardinals: 3-6
13) Atlanta Falcons: 3-6
UNSERIOUS TEAMS
14) Washington Commanders: 3-7
15) New Orleans Saints: 2-8
16) New York Giants: 2-8
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