Philadelphia Eagles Clinch NFC East vs. Rams as Carson Wentz Suffers Knee Injury

The Philadelphia Eagles clinched their first NFC East division title since 2013 and earned a berth in the 2017 NFL playoffs with a 43-35 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, but it may have come at a devastating cost. 

Philadelphia emerged as a serious Super Bowl contender despite entering the campaign with moderate expectations. It opened the regular season with 40-1 championship odds, which was tied for 16th in the NFL, per Joe Osborne of Odds Shark.

After a 1-1 start, the Eagles recorded back-to-back victories over the New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers by a combined five points to jump-start an extended nine-game winning streak.

While the team's rushing attack has been reliable and the defense took a major step forward after finishing in the middle of the pack last year, the biggest difference for Philly has been the vast improvement of quarterback Carson Wentz, a top MVP candidate as the regular season winds down.

For now, the biggest concern for the Eagles is Wentz's health. He left the game following a third-quarter touchdown drive with a knee injury that the team fears is a torn ACL, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. An official diagnosis will be given when Wentz undergoes an MRI.

Wentz tweeted about the team's accomplishment after the game while alluding to his injury: 

Meanwhile, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson made it clear during the team's run of victories that it was crucial not to start thinking too far ahead despite their sustained success.

"My job is to make sure that we stay focused and stay grounded," he told reporters in November. "We've just got to continue to stay with the one-game mentality. That's been a good formula for us this season. We can't get looking down the road and upcoming opponents and scenarios. That's for the media to speculate on and talk about."

Next up for Philadelphia is trying to lock down the top seed in the NFC, which would give it home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

The Eagles will be looking for their first Super Bowl title and fourth NFL championship, the last of which came during the 1960 season, six years before Super Bowl was played.

Wentz's status moving forward will determine whether that's possible.