Eagles Under Microscope After Week 18 Commanders Loss

The 2025 regular season has come to a close and now we know exactly where things stand for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Philadelphia finished the regular season with an 11-6 record, good for first place in the NFC East and the No. 3 seed in the NFC overall. The Seattle Seahawks earned the No. 1 seed followed by the Chicago Bears, Eagles, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and the Green Bay Packers.

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For the Eagles, they will kick off their playoff run with a home game against the 49ers, who are coming off a 13-3 loss at the hands of the Seahawks. If the Eagles win, they aren't guaranteed a home playoff game beyond the Wild Card Round. If all of the higher seeds advance, that would put the Eagles on a collision course with the Bears in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, but Philadelphia has to get through the first round before any of that.

The Eagles have a tough road

Jan 3, 2026; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) practices before the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images | Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

There's been a lot of chatter about the Eagles. They opted to rest their starters on Sunday against the Washington Commanders and lost a very winnable game. After the game, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni doubled down on the decision.

"You go through your process, you make what you think is the best decision for the football team, and that's what we did,” Sirianni said. “I knew this was an outcome, that these things could happen.

“Like I said to you guys, one thing I could guarantee was giving (the starters) rest. I couldn't guarantee anything else. Us being healthy and going into the playoffs healthy is a big deal for us and that's served us well in the past. Again, I know there'll be debate on that, but I have to do what I think's best for the football team moving forward, and that's what I did.”

The Eagles aren't shying away from the decision, but was it the right one? Arguably, yes. Philadelphia has had a gauntlet of a schedule this season featuring matchups against the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos, Packers, Detroit Lions, Bears, and Buffalo Bills, among others. On top of this, it was an odd season from a scheduling perspective. The Eagles had multiple short weeks and never had back-to-back home games.

That's a lot to deal with over the course of a season. If the Eagles had won, they would've gotten the No. 2 seed and faced the Packers in the first round. The 49ers arguably are a tougher matchup, but are fairly comparable. In the playoffs, you're going to have to face the toughest competition anyway and the Eagles have been no strangers to that throughout the campaign. If the Eagles enter the matchup even a bit healthier than they were, that in itself would justify the decision.

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