Eagles’ odds of reaching NFL playoffs soaring

A few times this year, we have checked in with the number-crunchers at MakeNFLPlayoffs.com to look at the odds of the Eagles reaching the postseason.

Not surprisingly, those odds have skyrocketed over the last few weeks.

On October 23, the Eagles had a 33.983 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 24.247 percent chance of winning the division. At the time, I tried to argue that you should hold out at least a little bit of hope that the Eagles might get on the right track.

Well, the Eagles lost their next game after that, but then they won three straight. And now their playoff odds are looking strong.

Chip Kelly and company have a 53.698 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 45.939 percent chance of winning the division. Unfortunately, those numbers are the lowest of any division leader in the NFL. But the Eagles' odds of making the playoffs have jumped 20 percentage points in the last four weeks. That's pretty impressive.

It will be interesting to see whether the Eagles still lead the division in terms of playoff probability after the bye week Sunday. Although I'm sure most people in Philadelphia will be hoping for some kind of meteor to hit the Giants-Cowboys game, it looks like a Giants win would really help the Eagles' postseason dreams.

Dallas has the second-highest odds of both making the playoffs (47.18 percent) and winning the division (43.939 percent). New York has a 11.157 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 8.976 percent chance of winning the division.

(Washington has a 1.146 percent chance of winning the division and a 1.476 percent chance of making the playoffs. Those odds are so bad that there might be a higher probability of the nation's capital having a functional government than of it having a functional football team.)

So as you're sitting on your couch this Sunday watching the rest of the NFL, Eagles fans, I hate to say this, but... you should root for… um… the…

No. I can't do it.

Bring on the meteor.