Eagles sit starters, blow chance to wrest NFC's No. 2 seed from Bears in loss to Commanders
The Philadelphia Eagles entered Week 18 with a shot at overtaking the Chicago Bears for the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.
But as the Bears lost, 19-16 on a walk-off field goal to the Detroit Lions, the Eagles weren't in prime position to capitalize. Head coach Nick Sirianni opted to rest his starters against a four-win Washington Commanders team playing with third-string quarterback Josh Johnson.
The Commanders beat the Eagles' backups 24-17, and the Bears held on to the No. 2 seed in the NFC despite losing, relegating the Eagles to the No. 3 seed.
The Bears and Eagles will each host playoff games in next week's wild-card round. If both teams advance to the divisional round, the Bears would host the Eagles with the winner advancing to the NFC championship game. And that's the advantage the Eagles surrendered when they started Sunday's game with Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and Co. on the bench.
The games were played at the same time, and Sirianni couldn't have known that the Bears would lose. But he prioritized rest over giving the Eagles their best chance at the No. 2 seed, and they'll go into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed instead.
The Lions secured their win over the Bears as the result of Commanders-Eagles remained in the balance. With Detroit's win in the books, the Eagles forced a Commanders punt with 1:04 remaining and a chance to tie the game.
But backup quarterback Tanner McKee threw three incompletions and took a sack for a turnover on downs, allowing the Commanders to kneel out the clock on their win.
This story will be updated.