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It’s happening again.
For the second year in a row, the Philadelphia Eagles are being considered big UNDERDOGS heading into the NFL playoffs.
Last year, the Eagles were the biggest home playoff underdogs in league history. The story is a little different this year as the Eagles won’t be playing as a single home game since they’re the No. 6 seed.
Instead, the Eagles are road dogs. And the biggest ones in the league at that.
SB Nation’s NFL odds page shows the Bears are favored by six points over the Eagles for Sunday’s 4:40 PM game in Chicago. Here’s how that line compares to other wild card weekend playoff games:
Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (-2.5)
Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys (-2.5)
Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore Ravens (-2.5)
Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears (-6)
Make no mistake: the Bears are a very good team. They’re 7-1 at home this season. Their one loss at Soldier Field was a 7-point defeat to the Patriots in a game where the Bears came one yard short of sending it to overtime. Chicago ranks sixth overall in DVOA (No. 1 defense) and fourth overall in point differential. The Eagles have their work cut out for them, especially given that Nick Foles might not be at 100% as he’s reportedly dealing with bruised ribs.
But it would be foolish to count out this Eagles team. They’re playing good football down the stretch. Philadelphia’s last three wins:
30-23 in Los Angeles over a Rams team that finished 13-3
32-30 in Philadelphia over a Texans team that finished 11-5
24-0 in Maryland over a Washington team that finished 7-9
Doug Pederson is going to have his guys ready to play. The Bears deserved to be favored but you can bet the Eagles are going to bring a fight to Chicago.
Don’t sleep on the reigning Super Bowl champions.