Experts picks for the Eagles this postseason all over the map

The NFL playoffs kickoff this weekend and the Eagles seem like a popular Super Bowl pick. Just not from any of the experts we found making their picks online.

Despite their 14 wins, extremely good health luck and dominance on both sides of the ball, exactly zero of the writers for national publications we found expect the Eagles to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next month. But a majority of them seem to think they'll be able to handle the Packers, and that's a good start.

Here's a look at what the so called experts are saying about the Eagles before the madness begins:

ESPN — An early exit

The Packers are going to the Super Bowl. That's Bill Barnwell's prediction over at ESPN. The football writer picked every game in the upcoming postseason, and if his predictions hold true, Eagles fans can at least take solace in knowing they lost to the eventual conference winner.

Barnwell goes on for a while, but he mainly cites the Green Bay defense handling Saquon Barkley and a struggling Jake Elliott as his reasons for picking the Packers. He has them eventually losing to the Chiefs in the big game.

The Athletic — Wild Card victory

The Athletic had seven of their NFL writers pick each of the NFL's first round games, and six of the seven (Chad Graff was the only hold out) picked Philly to handle Green Bay. In their analysis, it was interestingly pointed out that the Eagles and Packers mirror one another quite a bit:

Prior to their injuries, both quarterbacks were playing at an exceptionally high level. Over his past seven games, Love has thrown nine touchdowns to zero interceptions. Over his past 12 games, Hurts has thrown 15 touchdowns to only one interception.
The injury concerns could be countered by the Packers’ and Eagles’ rushing attacks, which are among the league’s best: top-five in rushing yards per game and top-six in yards per carry. Both teams made huge offseason additions to their running game during the offseason. The Packers signed Josh Jacobs, who finished sixth in the league in rushing, while the Eagles landed Saquon Barkley, who topped the 2,000-yard mark and made a run at Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record. [The Athletic]

While we're looking at The Athletic, a statistical model on their website predicts the Eagles have a 64% chance of beating the Packers, a 43% chance of making the conference championship (second best in the NFC) and an 11% chance of winning it all (third best, behind the Lions and Chiefs).

CBS Sports — Wild Card victory

CBS's John Breech (who was apparently 180-92 picking this season) is going Eagles by a field goal, 27-24 in the Sunday afternoon game. Some of his reasoning:

This game is almost certainly going to come down to how well each team stops the run. The Eagles have the NFL's leading rusher in Saquon Barkley while the Packers have Josh Jacobs, who ranked sixth in the league in rushing in 2024 with 1,329 yards.
Although Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to crack the 2,000-yard mark, that's not necessarily a reason to pick the Eagles. Over the course of NFL history, teams with a 2,000-yard rusher are 3-5 in the playoffs with all three wins coming from former Broncos running back Terrell Davis (so everyone else is 0-5).
As long as Jalen Hurts (concussion) plays, I think the Eagles do enough to hold off the Packers. [CBS Sports]

NFL.com — A loss in Detroit

The writers at NFL.com decided to pick the entire postseason and they did not provide many details on why they believe the Lions would win in the NFC Championship over the Eagles, but that is their prediction. They see the Ravens beating the Chiefs and later the Lions to win the Super Bowl.

NY Post — A loss in Detroit (this time, with lots of details...)

Still a little bitter about the whole Saquon Barkley thing, this New York publication did pick the Eagles to handle the Packers. A snippet from their explanation why:

Battle of the Joe Schoen All-Stars — Packers ball hawk Xavier McKinney versus 2,000-yard man Saquon Barkley. Josh Jacobs, meet Jalen Carter and Zack Baun. John Mara shows up and trolls Barkley by pretending to fall asleep directly behind Eagles bench.

LOL.

The Post then sees the Birds beating the Buccaneers to make it to the NFC title game against the Lions. They claim to know exactly how and why the Eagles will lose in Ford Field:

Saquon is now 60 minutes from the Super Bowl. This time it is Mara, Schoen and Brian Daboll situated behind the Eagles bench pretending to fall asleep. LBs Alex Anzalone and Jack Campbell play Sam Huff to Saquon’s Jim Brown. Dan Campbell goes for it every time on fourth down. Goff handles the blitz. Gibbs outshines Saquon. A team and a town on a mission to reach their first Super Bowl. Campbell is carried off the field by Barry Sanders and Megatron.
Lions 27, Eagles 23 [NY Post]

The NY Post has the Lions beating the Ravens in the Super Bowl.

The Ringer— Close but not quite

Football writers, including Sheil Kapadia, picked their brackets at The Ringer, and the Eagles had a wide range of outcomes:

• Nora Princiotti sees Green Bay upsetting Philly in Round 1.
• Kapadia has no love for his hometown Eagles as they lose in his NFC Championship game.
• A pair of writers have the Eagles losing to the Ravens in the Super Bowl. Says Diante Lee: "Super Bowl 59 will put a bow on a year marked by excellent running backs (with Henry vs. Saquon Barkley), and it’ll be capped off by Jackson silencing his playoff doubters for good."
• Fantasy football hosts Danny Heifetz and Danny Kelly each picked the Lions over the Eagles in the NFCC, as did Lindsay Jones.

Yahoo! Sports — a (mostly) deep run

Yahoo! had their football writing staff pick the full bracket and while none of them picked the Eagles to win Super Bowl LIX, three of their five pickers had them winning the NFC Championship over the Lions. Two of the three had the Birds losing to the Chiefs and one to the Ravens.

Both Charles McDonald and Nate Tice zigged with their picks, selecting a Packers win in the first round.

Sports Illustrated (MMQB) — The full gambit

Over at Sports Illustrated, the Monday Morning QB staff picked their entire playoff brackets and every possible fate — save for winning it all — is predicted to befall the Eagles:

• Albert Breer and Greg Bishop have them losing in the first round to the Packers.
• Connor Orr has them losing in the second round to the Buccaneers.
• Three of their writers have them losing in the NFC title game to the Lions.
• Matt Verderame has them losing in a Super Bowl LVII rematch to the Chiefs, while Michael Rosenberg and Andrew Brandt have them losing in the big game to the Ravens.

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