The Philadelphia Eagles clinched a playoff berth last weekend with their win over the Washington Football Team, coupled with the loss by the Minnesota Vikings to the New Orleans Saints.
While the question of their final seed is yet to be determined — Philadelphia could end up either the sixth seed or the seventh seed in the NFC — the organization has decided to not take any major chances in the season finale, making a number of key players inactive for the season finale against the Dallas Cowboys:
#DALvsPHI inactives pic.twitter.com/eY5Ro6ykXD
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 8, 2022
Now, the Eagles currently sit in the seventh slot, and could get to the sixth slot in the conference standings. But a win on Saturday night could not solely determine whether Philadelphia slid up a spot in the seeding. In fact, the Eagles can still improve to sixth in the conference with a loss.
In that scenario, the Eagles would need the San Francisco 49ers to lose to the Los Angeles Rams and then the New Orleans Saints to beat the Atlanta Falcons. That would leave Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Orleans with identical 9-8 records. Philadelphia and New Orleans would be in the post-season as both would have 7-5 records in the conference (with the 49ers sitting at 6-6 in the NFC) and the Eagles would win a tiebreaker over the Saints for the sixth spot, thanks to their Week 11 victory over New Orleans.
If the Eagles win tonight, they would still need a loss from San Francisco to secure the sixth seed. Furthermore, the fifth seed is not a possibility, as the team that finishes second in the NFC West — either the Los Angeles Rams or the Arizona Cardinals — will finish with a better record than the Eagles.
Given these scenarios, head coach Nick Sirianni has made the decision to rest these players, and look ahead to Wild Card Weekend.