December 03, 2023
Yes, losing to the 49ers is less than ideal.
It definitely hurts a little bit, within the context of what happened last season, the trash talk, and the magnitude of losing decisively in an NFC title game rematch Sunday.
It will be said that the Niners are the best team in the NFC, and many will anoint them as Super Bowl favorites. But the truth is, the Eagles can still make the road to the Super Bowl route through Philly — as they control their own destiny for a very important 1-seed and first round bye. And with that bye, they'll have a monumental leg up on San Francisco. They just have to hang on and earn it.
Here's the current landscape:
| Team | Record | GB |
| Eagles | 10-2 | — |
| 49ers | 9-3 | 1 |
| Lions | 9-3 | 1 |
| Cowboys | 9-3 | 1 |
There really aren't any other relevant teams in the race for the 1-seed — the Vikings and Seahawks each have six wins and are four games back.
The Eagles now have their first blemish in the NFC, which is the tiebreaker after head-to-head when determining playoff seeding. The will lose that head-to-head tiebreaker to San Francisco now. However, win or lose against Dallas in Week 14, Philly has a pretty good chance of maintaining that NFC conference record tiebreaker against Dallas, a team that already has three losses (the Eagles are 6-1 right now).
But that's assuming they lose in Texas Sunday night. The Eagles can still more or less lock up a division title and a first round bye with a win in the central time zone next weekend.
There are five games remaining to be played in total, and after a "gauntlet" stretch of games things will get considerably easier — and in comparison to the teams in pursuit of Philadelphia it's a huge advantage for them. The Seahawks (who Philly will have to face on the road), have stumbled of late, and the Cardinals and Giants (twice) seem as close to automatic wins as appear on an NFL calendar.
The remaining slate:
| Team | Opponents | Win % |
| Eagles | DAL, SEA, NYG, ARI, NYG | .472 |
| Cowboys | PHI, BUF, MIA, DET, WAS | .633 |
| 49ers | SEA, ARI, BAL, WAS, LAR | .514 |
| Lions | CHI, DEN, MIN, DAL, MIN | .517 |
The Eagles have a lot of issues to correct before looking to win the season series against the Cowboys. But this isn't a team that has shied from adversity. They're also arguably America's team this season, with three straight "standalone" games ahead (SNF, MNF and the national Christmas Day game).
It probably goes without saying, but the first round bye is invaluable in the NFL's postseason. Last February, the Eagles and Chiefs became the 31st and 32nd teams since 1990 to advance to the Super Bowl as No. 1 seeds. Of those 32, 14 Super Bowl champions have come from the 1-seed. So 50% of the Super Bowl combatants have been top seeds, and 43% of those 1-seeds have become champions.
Health and planning go a long way in the modern NFL and Philly could sew things up and schedule themselves some extra time to prepare in January if they can make good on the soft schedule ahead.
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