Sunday was a pretty great day for Philadelphia Eagles fans.
The Eagles scored a huge get-right, 31-0 win over Kenny Pickett and the lowly Las Vegas Raiders then woke up Monday to the news they were just one win from clinching the NFC East for the second year in a row.
Philadelphia (9-5) snapped a three-game losing skid by shutting out the 2-11 Raiders at Lincoln Financial Field.
But thanks to the Minnesota Vikings‘ 34-26 upset win over the second-place Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia now only needs to win one of its final three games to clinch the NFC East.
The Eagles can sew up the division as early as Saturday, when they will visit the Washington Commanders (4-10) on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET.
The Vikings Really Helped The Eagles
The Cowboys (6-7-1) were about a touchdown favorite at home against the Vikings, who had been eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the day. Minnesota entered play at 5-8 and 3-4 in road games, and the Cowboys had only lost once in five games at AT&T Stadium.
But Minnesota quarterback J.J. McCarthy dialed up his second straight offensively dominant performance, helping Minnesota surpass 30 points for the second straight game. The Vikings are now averaging 32.5 points per game over their past two games, wins over the Cowboys and Commanders.
The Cowboys held the inside track to winning the East, since their 40-40 tie at home against the Green Bay Packers meant they could have finished 10-6-1 and won the division if the Eagles ended up 10-7.
But now the Cowboys can’t finish with more than nine wins, and the Eagles won their ninth game Sunday. So Philadelphia only needs to either defeat the Commanders in one of two meetings or knock off the Buffalo Bills in a potential Super Bowl preview in Orchard Park in Week 17.
The Eagles Can Do Something That Has Not Been Done In More Than 20 Years
The Eagles are perhaps the model NFL franchise, since they have been to the Super Bowl two of the past three seasons and have won the title twice in the past eight years.
Yet, they have not repeated as NFC East champions since 2003-04, the final campaigns of their four consecutive NFC Championship Game berths under Andy Reid from 2001-04.
But Philadelphia famously is also the last NFC East team to repeat as division champs, an incomprehensible fact that almost needs to be seen to believed. Starting with the Eagles in 2004, none of the four NFC East teams has finished atop the division in consecutive years — despite the fact the New York Giants have wallowed near the bottom of the division for more than a decade.
The Eagles, of course, were on the verge of sewing up their second straight divisional crown in 2023 before they closed the season with a 1-5 slump. The Cowboys swooped in and stole the division by winning seven of their final nine to finish 12-5.
Many Eagles fans had been comparing this season to 2023 amid the Eagles late-season struggles and Dallas’ previous three-game win streak.
But with Philadelphia’s sudden margin for error, and the fact the Commanders are 2-7 in their past nine head-to-heads against the Eagles and playing out the string without superstar second-year QB Jayden Daniels, it’s looking good for the Eagles to hang on and win the division again.
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