Looking at the point spreads for the three games that impact the Eagles in Week 17

There are three Week 17 games that are very relevant to the Philadelphia Eagles’ chances of making the 2019 NFL playoffs.

The first one is obviously the Eagles’ game against the Washington Redskins. SB Nation’s odds page shows the Eagles are seven-point road favorites heading into Sunday’s matchup. This line comes as now surprise as Philadelphia is coming off back-to-back wins over the Los Angeles Rams and Houston Texans while Washington is starting their fourth string quarterback, Josh Johnson.

The Eagles should be able to take care of business against a Washington team that ranks 30th in weighted DVOA and doesn’t have anything to play for. With that in mind, the Eagles must avoid a letdown opportunity here.

The other two games of interest to the Eagles include the San Francisco 49ers at the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears at the Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles NEED the Vikes to lose.

Bears head coach Matt Nagy has stated Chicago intends to try to win their game in order to potentially have a chance at the No. 2 seed. That’s the good news for Philly. But Nagy also admitted the Bears have a plan to pull their starters if they see the Rams get far ahead of the 49ers, leaving Chicago with nothing to play for.

The 49ers are currently 10-point underdogs to the Rams. San Fran lost to the Rams earlier this year, 39 to 10. That game took place before Nick Mullens overtook C.J. Beathard as the starting quarterback, however. A closer look at the Mullens era shows the Niners have only trailed at the half in two of their last seven games:

Week 9 vs. Raiders: Up 17 to 3
Week 10 vs. Giants: Up 13 to 10
Week 12 at Buccaneers: Down 13 to 6
Week 13 at Seahawks: Down 20 to 3
Week 14 vs. Broncos: Up 20 to 0
Week 15 vs. Seahawks: Up 17 to 13
Week 16 vs. Bears: Up 9 to 7

The bad trend here for the Eagles is that both games the 49ers trailed in were road games. The 49ers are playing AT the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this week.

Still, Kyle Shanahan’s team has been putting forth good effort in recent games. There’s some hope they won’t just roll over on Sunday.

Getting back to the Bears vs. Vikings game, it’s Minnesota that’s favored by five points at home. Vegas seems to be expecting Chicago to not go all out to win this game. If they were, it seems like the line wouldn’t be so big. The Bears already defeated the Vikings earlier this year, 25 to 20.

Another bad trend for the Eagles is that the Vikings are 5-2 at home this season.

Week 1: Vikings 24, 49ers 16
Week 3: Bills 27, Vikings 6
Week 6: Vikings 27, Cardinals 17
Week 8: Saints 30, Vikings 20
Week 9: Vikings 24, Lions 9
Week 12: Vikings 24, Packers 17
Week 15: Vikings 41, Dolphins 17

Minnesota’s home losses came to a Buffalo team they simply overlooked (trap game) and a Saints team that owns the league’s best record. In other words, the Bears have their work cut out for them.

All the Eagles can focus on is beating Washington. Then hopefully the 49ers will keep the Rams game close enough to where the Bears play their starters and try to beat the Vikings.