NFL Playoff Picture: Not the best bye week for the Eagles but not all bad

With Week 14 in the books, the NFL playoff picture is one step closer to being finalized. Let’s take a look at the current standings.

NFC PLAYOFF PICTURE

DIVISION LEADERS

1 - Arizona Cardinals (10-2)
2 - Green Bay Packers (10-3)
3 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-3)
4 - Dallas Cowboys (9-4)

WILD CARD TEAMS

5 - Los Angeles Rams (8-4)
6 - San Francisco 49ers (7-6)
7 - Washington Football Team (6-7)

IN THE HUNT

8 - Minnesota Vikings (6-7)
9 - Philadelphia Eagles (6-7)
10 - Atlanta Falcons (6-7)
11 - New Orleans Saints (6-7)
12 - Carolina Panthers (5-8)
13 - Seattle Seahawks (5-8)

...

The bye week wasn’t as fruitful as it could’ve been for the Eagles.

The good news for the Birds is that Washington lost. The Football Team is currently still in the seventh seed but the Eagles have two chances to beat them in the next three weeks.

The bad news for the Birds is that both the Vikings and 49ers won. Minny seems catchable considering Kirk Cousins has previously imploded in key games and they still have to play the Packers and the Rams. The 49ers are a bit further out of reach since they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Philly (that Week 2 loss is haunting) but they do still have to play the Titans and Rams (... who they beat earlier this season).

On paper, the Eagles’ next three games appear to be very winnable. Washington’s four-game win streak suddenly doesn’t look as great after mostly getting dominated by Dallas. The New York Giants are looking even more listless without Daniel Jones to give them some level of respectability under center.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the Eagles play the Cowboys in Week 18. There’s no guarantee that Dallas will rest their starters, though it’s possible depending on how things shake out with the seeding.

In the meantime, all the Eagles need to currently focus on is beating Washington in Week 15. They do that and we’ll see where they are when we check in on the playoff picture next week.

More playoff scenario info from our friend Deniz:

(Note: The Cardinals and Rams will play on Monday Night Football.)

AFC PLAYOFF PICTURE

DIVISION LEADERS

1 - New England Patriots (9-4)
2 - Tennessee Titans (9-4)
3 - Kansas City Chiefs (9-4)
4 - Baltimore Ravens (8-5)

WILD CARD TEAMS

5 - Los Angeles Chargers (8-5)
6 - Indianapolis Colts (7-6)
7 - Buffalo Bills (7-6)

IN THE HUNT

8 - Cleveland Browns (7-6)
9 - Cincinnati Bengals (7-6)
10 - Denver Broncos (7-6)
11 - Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6-1)
12 - Las Vegas Raiders (6-7)
13 - Miami Dolphins (6-7)

...

The AFC playoff picture is of interest to the Eagles when it comes to owning picks from the Colts and Dolphins in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The good news for the Birds is that the Titans, Chargers, Browns, and Broncos won.

The bad news for the Birds is that the Bills, Bengals, Steelers, and Raiders lost. Had Buffalo and Cincy both won, Indy would still be on the outside looking in. The Bengals loss was especially annoying since it was paired with a 49ers win, which hurt the Eagles in the NFC.