4 scenarios that help the Eagles get back into playoff chase in Week 13

Even if the Philadelphia Eagles lost a bad game to the division rival New York Giants, these four scenarios in Week 13 will help The Birds get right back into the NFC playoff mix.

Though a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants is painful, the 5-7 Philadelphia Eagles are still in contention to make the NFC playoffs.

While the Dallas Cowboys are still probably winning the NFC East, America’s Team has fallen on hard times, outside of the Atlanta Falcons blowout a few weeks ago. The NFC Wild Card race is up for the grabs as the calendar turns to December. Of course, the Eagles need to score more than seven points in a divisional game if they want to sniff they postseason, but they are still alive.

Here are four scenarios for Week 13 that could propel the Eagles back into the NFC playoff mix.

How Philadelphia Eagles get back into NFC playoff mix after Week 13’s games

First things first. The Eagles have to beat the New York Jets. If they can’t do that, they have no business considering themselves to be playoff caliber. As far as the other three scenarios, these are all out of the Eagles’ control, but have varying levels of feasibility. Here are the three other scenarios that need to happen to improve the Eagles’ chances of making it into the NFC playoffs.

• Seattle Seahawks beat Washington Football Team on Monday Night Football to finish Week 12, then beat San Francisco 49ers in Week 13.
• Dallas Cowboys beat New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football to commence Week 13.
• Minnesota Vikings beat winless Detroit Lions.

If these three scenarios play out, Philadelphia sees its playoff chances improve from 23 percent to 34 percent. The shame in it all is the Eagles’ playoff percentages would have been at 60 percent if they did not lose a dumb game to the Giants. So with that in mind, what is the likelihood of these three other scenarios out of the Eagles control actually playing out in their favor in Week 13?

The likeliest is Minnesota beating Detroit because everybody beats Detroit. Dallas has the better team over New Orleans, but the Cowboys are dealing with a bit of a COVID outbreak, which will make things harder for Dallas. As far as counting on the Seahawks to beat Washington and then beating San Francisco on a short week, good luck with that. Do not trust the Seahawks this year.

It would be such a shame if the bad loss to the Giants is what keeps the Eagles out of the playoffs.