With either a loss by the San Francisco 49ers or the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys would have clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2018. In a shocking turn of events, both teams won their games, leaving the Cowboys in control of their own destiny as Week 16 begins.
ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives the Cowboys a 99.9 percent chance of clinching a playoff spot and a 99.8 percent chance of taking the NFC East Division after a strong win over division rival the New York Giants on Sunday. The Cowboys will secure the Division title with a win over the Washington Football Team this coming Sunday. Dallas defeated Washington two weeks ago with a confident 44-21 final score.
While the 49ers were favored to win against a struggling Atlanta Falcons team, very few people saw the New Orleans Saints being in position to take down one of the NFL’s true juggernaut teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In fact, the points spread before the game had Tampa Bay winning by 11 points. Instead, Tom Brady and company were handed their first shutout as a team and only the third shutout in Brady’s career.
According to ESPN, this is the first season since 1970 that only one team has secured a playoff spot. With a victory over the Baltimore Ravens, the Green Bay Packers secured their third consecutive NFC North Division title, ensuring that the road to the Super Bowl will go through the Packers. With back-to-back losses by the Arizona Cardinals, the Packers now have an opportunity to take the NFC’s number one seed and secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs.
The Cowboys could still spoil the party for Green Bay and lock up the number one seed themselves. To take the NFC’s top spot, the Cowboys would need victories in each of the final three games, along with a Green Bay loss to either the Minnesota Vikings or the Detroit Lions. With a major upset victory this weekend by the Lions over the Cardinals, Detroit is proving to be more of a handful to playoff-bound teams than their 2-11-1 record demonstrates.
Victories by the Cowboys will need to come over Washington, Arizona, and Philadelphia, three teams that also have a chance for playoff opportunities. The Cardinals are virtually assured a spot, but it now appears that the number one seed may have slipped through the team’s fingers. Washington and Philadelphia currently boast identical 6-7 records and have a slim chance of success. Both teams will need victories through the final three weeks and likely some help from other NFC outcomes.
The Cowboys will play Washington and Arizona in consecutive weeks at home before facing the Eagles in Philadelphia to conclude the season. Early predictions indicate that the Cowboys are ten-point favorites to defeat Washington on Sunday. Due to Covid protocols, the Washington Football Team will play the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday, then play Dallas on Sunday.