The Eagles crushed Chicago, the Ravens were crushed by New England and the Steelers avoid crushing the hopes of their fans with a thrilling victory in Green Bay. It all adds up to an intriguing Week 17 of the NFL regular season for local football fans.
Philadelphia destroyed the Bears 54-11 Sunday Night at Lincoln Financial Field to improve to 9-6. The Eagles will travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys in their final regular season game. Dallas is 8-7 and beat the Eagles in their first meeting this year. If Philly wins, they capture the NFC East division and will host a playoff game the weekend of January 4th-5th. If they lose, they are eliminated from the postseason and the Cowboys are the division champs. For the second straight week, the NFL moves the Eagles kickoff time from 1pm to 8:30pm on Sunday Night.
Baltimore no longer controls their postseason possibilities thanks to their lackluster performance against the Patriots when they lost 41-7 at home. The Ravens are 8-7 and tied with Miami and San Diego for the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC. They need to beat Cincinnati on the road Sunday and have either the Dolphins or Chargers lose in order to make the postseason as a wildcard team.
Pittsburgh is defying all odds to stay alive in the race. They are only 7-8 but can still advance to the playoffs with a series of wins and losses that forces a five-team tie. The Steelers will get the AFC wildcard spot if they beat Cleveland, the New York Jets beat Miami, the Ravens lose to the Bengals and San Diego falls at home to Kansas City.