The Philadelphia Eagles won in Week 17 but the Packers gave them the last push they needed to clinch a playoff berth this year.
In the early slate of games to kick off Week 17 in the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles got a scare from the Washington Football Team but, thanks to a late-game push, they were able to move to 9-7 on the season. That put them in a great spot to clinch a playoff berth, but they weren’t quite there yet.
Put simply, a win in Week 18 over the Dallas Cowboys would’ve locked up a spot — or they could’ve gotten a little help on Sunday Night Football. They got the latter.
Courtesy of Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers taking the Vikings, a team playing without Kirk Cousins due to COVID-19, to the woodshed at Lambeau Field, Minnesota was eliminated from the playoffs and the Eagles clinched their spot in the postseason.
Eagles clinch playoff berth due to Packers destroying Vikings
After a 1-3 start to the season, fans and analysts seemed ready to write the Eagles off, a sentiment that only grew stronger when the team dropped to 2-5 on the year.
However, Jalen Hurts has performed exceptionally well — as did Gardner Minshew when he was forced into relief duty — and helped Philadelphia reel off seven wins in their last nine games to put them in the position where Green Bay’s win could clinch the spot in the NFC playoff bracket.
Even with that, the Eagles will still be fighting for seeding when they face the rival Cowboys in the regular-season finale. As of right now, they would face the Rams in Los Angeles but they could still feasibly see the Buccaneers or even the Cowboys in the Wild Card Round.
In any case, a tough playoff matchup awaits Philadelphia in a couple of weeks — but they’ll be there, which is the important part.