It would be hard for the Eagles to go into the playoffs on a less impressive note. The 11-6 record is not terrible. Many thought they would go 12-5, so it is not too far off of expectations. But when you go from 10-1 to 11-6, you are going to take some heat. Especially when some of those losses were to the Cardinals, Drew Lock’s Seahawks, and the Giants. They are 1-5 since the start of December, and it dragged their point differential down to just +5.
They still made the playoffs, so at least there is that. They will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night. which on paper, is the best matchup they could get. The Bucs are mostly just in the playoffs because they play in the NFC South, and one of those teams had to make it. But if just just go since December, they have been the much better team. For one, they are 5-1 in that time. But they have also scored more points, and allowed the 2nd fewest points in the league. So as bad as the Bucs look on paper, it is hard to look at them and say the Eagles drew the ideal matchup. You could argue it’s the Bucs who drew the easiest matchup in the first round.
But before we got to the playoffs, all of the National Sits put out one last round of Power Rankings. To see where every team stands as the regular season comes to a close. For whatever reason, many of them had been oddly optimistic about the Eagles during this stretch. Even going so far as to chastise Eagles fans for doubting. but was the final week enough to convince them the negative eagles fans were right?