Week 14 non-Eagles rooting guide

If the NFL season ended today (it doesn't), the Philadelphia Eagles would be the 3 seed in the NFC at 8-4. They have lost two straight in ugly fashion, and will look to end their slide on Monday Night Football in Los Angeles against the Chargers. But for now, there's a full slate of other Sunday NFL games to get through.

Here we'll lay out a rooting guide for non-Eagles games on the NFL schedule for those of you on the fence while watching the other action around the league. And yes, I'm aware that most of the below is obvious. Ideal winners bolded.

NFC East

Heading into Week 12, the Eagles needed a combination of four Eagles wins or Cowboys losses the rest of the season to win the division. Here are the Eagles' and Cowboys' schedules mashed together, from Week 12 on. The Cowboys lost on Thursday Night Football, lowering the Eagles' "magic number" to three.

The NFC East standings now look like this:

Inpredictable.com now has the Eagles as 96 percent likely to win the division.

The Giants are on their bye.

• Commanders at Vikings: The Commanders' season is long since over, but they will be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention if they lose to the Vikings or if the Eagles beat the Chargers on Monday night.

It would be idiocy for the Commanders to put Jayden Daniels on the field the rest of this season. There are only theoretical benefits to it, but all kinds of definitive downside. Daniels already got hurt once this season during garbage time of a game that was long since over. Have they learned their lesson?

Maybe being officially eliminated raises the odds that the Commanders will do the smart, logical thing and tell Daniels to start thinking about 2026? And certainly, the Eagles would benefit from the Commanders shutting Daniels down.

Other NFC contenders

First, a visual of the NFC standings/seeding:

☠️ = Graveyard

• Bears at Packers: This is perhaps counterintuitive seeing as the Bears smashed the Eagles last Sunday, and the Eagles have beaten the Packers three times since 2024. But, I still believe the Packers are the more dangerous potential playoff opponent.

The Bears and Packers both have better records than the Eagles presently. They both have hard schedules to close the season, but the Packers' final two games are easier than the Bears'.

There's some room for debate here, but I think a Bears win is more ideal.

The rest of the NFC contender games are obvious:

1. Rams at Cardinals
2. Seahawks at Falcons
3. Saints at Buccaneers

Draft considerations

• Bryce Huff sacks. (It's not looking good.)

• Dolphins at Jets: The Eagles own the Jets' third-round pick, so the more games they lose, the better.

• Titans at Browns: If the Titans win, the Giants and Saints (if they lose) would both pass them in the draft order.

For future reference:

1. Broncos at Raiders
2. Bengals at Bills

It doesn't really matter who wins the above games, but the Eagles play the Raiders Week 15 and the Bills Week 17.

Irrelevant to the Eagles:

1. Steelers at Ravens
2. Colts at Jaguars
3. Texans at Chiefs

BYE: Giants, 49ers, Panthers, Patri*ts.

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