Eagles

Here’s How the Eagles Can Clinch a Playoff Berth on Sunday

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 28th, 2021 · 8:36 AM EST

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Funky game on Monday Night Football.

The Dolphins beat the Saints, which hurt the position of the first round draft pick the Eagles are receiving from Miami, but helped them in their playoff pursuit because New Orleans fell to 7-8. Ian Book looked like an amalgamate version of Garrett Gilbert and Jake Fromm en route to a 12-20 evening in which he threw two interceptions. It was ugly.

This is what the NFC standings now look like:

And here’s how the Eagles clinch on Sunday:

1. Birds beat Washington
2. Vikings lose at Packers
3. Saints lose to Panthers OR Niners beat Texans

Why does San Francisco matter? It’s about the possibility of a three-way tie. When you have more than two teams with the same record, the NFL cycles through head-to-head games, division record, common games, and then conference record before getting to strength of victory and strength of schedule, so San Fran getting to 9-7 plays a role here.* As for H2H tiebreakers, the Birds lost to the Niners but beat Atlanta and New Orleans, so they’re in decent position overall.

It’s conceivable that the Eagles could clinch on Sunday and then rest their starters against Dallas in Week 18, who will also be resting all of their starters. It depends on what happens with the Cowboys/Bucs/Rams this week, because all are currently locked into playoff spots at 11-4. The Bucs play the Jets, the Rams travel to Baltimore, and Dallas has a tricky home game against Arizona.

However, the Eagles, Packers, and Niners are all -195 favorites or better on Sunday, and so the scenario listed above is likely to happen. It seems like that Minnesota/Green Bay game is going to be the divisional X-Factor, unless I just jinxed the Birds in Washington.

Here’s a more detailed explainer of the three-way tiebreaking procedures* –

Updated #Eagles playoff scenarios following #MNF.
Eagles can clinch next week with:
1. a win (#PHIvsWAS) +
2. MIN loss (#MINvsGB) +
3. SF win (#HOUvsSF) or NO loss (#CARvsNO)
Complete clinching scenarios/standings/schedule attached below.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/u65RwLGt8l

— Deniz Selman (@denizselman33) December 28, 2021