Eagles' Rooting Guide for NFL Playoff Implications of Week 17

The Philadelphia Eagles are one win and some help away from securing a postseason berth in Week 17.

Everything broke in favor of the NFC East side in Week 16, putting the Eagles in seventh place in the conference ahead of their second clash with the Washington Football Team in three weeks.

The Eagles are level on record with the San Francisco 49ers, who look more vulnerable than they did a week ago because quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is dealing with a hand injury.

Philadelphia is one game ahead of the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. The Vikings are the Eagles' biggest concern because there is no head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams. Philadelphia has wins over Atlanta and New Orleans and a loss to San Francisco.

The Eagles need the Green Bay Packers to take care of the Vikings in Week 17 to make life as easy as possible going into Week 18.

Packers over Vikings

Matt Ludtke/Associated Press

All of the Eagles' potential clinching scenarios require a Minnesota Vikings loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Philadelphia has four playoff-clinching permutations for Week 17. All of them need the Vikings to lose Sunday night at Lambeau Field.

Minnesota fell to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16 without Dalvin Cook to put it one game behind the Eagles in the wild-card race.

The Vikings will be without Adam Thielen for the rest of the season after he was placed on injured reserve. Kirk Cousins was placed on the COVID-19/reserve list this week. Minnesota's playoff hopes rest on the arm of Sean Mannion.

An Eagles victory combined with a Vikings loss puts the NFC North side two games back of a wild-card spot with one game left.

If those results happen, the Eagles either need a New Orleans loss or tie, San Francisco win or tie, a New Orleans loss plus an Atlanta loss or tie or a Saints loss, Falcons loss or tie and a 49ers win or tie to clinch a playoff spot.

Panthers over Saints

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The first clinching scenario on the board requires the New Orleans Saints to lose to the Carolina Panthers on top of a Vikings loss in Wisconsin.

The Saints are not as much of a threat to the Eagles since they lost their head-to-head meeting and have not played well of late.

New Orleans gets back Taysom Hill for Sunday's game inside the Caesars Superdome, but its offense needs to be much better to stay alive in the postseason race.

Sean Payton's team could remain in the wild-card hunt for one more week because it faces the Carolina Panthers, who have dealt with all sorts of offensive issues in the past month.

Carolina's revolving-door strategy at quarterback has not worked, and it feels like the franchise is just waiting for the season to end.

Philadelphia can still get into the postseason if New Orleans beats Carolina. The second permutation on the board requires a Minnesota loss or tie to be combined with a San Francisco win or tie against the Houston Texans.

49ers over Texans

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

A San Francisco home win over Houston seems like the easiest result that needs to go in the Eagles' favor.

San Francisco can run the ball all over the Texans defense if it is dealing with quarterback issues. Garoppolo has not been ruled out, but his thumb injury could mean Trey Lance starts.

The 49ers carry the same motivation as the Eagles in Week 17. They would prefer to lock up a postseason spot Sunday and have a chance to rest some players instead of fighting for something in Week 18.

The second clinching scenario on the board requires the Eagles to win, Vikings to lose and 49ers to win to put the NFC East into the postseason. San Francisco is also in with a victory combined with a New Orleans loss.

Philadelphia and San Francisco would both be 9-7 in that situation, and the Eagles would have head-to-head tiebreakers over Atlanta and New Orleans that would break any potential ties at 9-8 next week.

That appears to be the most likely of the four permutations on the board since Carolina will not be playing for much in New Orleans.