PHILADELPHIA — On Sunday night, as the Birds rested, Dan Quinn handed the Eagles the NFC East title.

Quinn is the head coach of the Washington Commanders. He left franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels in a game that was entirely unwinnable. This action, and the subsequent play-calling, exposed Daniels to injury. Sure enough, Daniels dislocated his left elbow while scrambling for what would have been a meaningless touchdown late in a game in which they trailed by 31 points.

The next night, on Monday Night Football, the woeful Cardinals, using retread quarterback Jacoby Brissett, dominated the Cowboys, whose season has been rocked by several incidents of adversity.

The Eagles did not play last weekend, but they entered their bye week by dismantling the Giants, ending any remaining hope for that team. With nine games to play, the NFC East race is over.

The Eagles now have a 96% chance to win the division title, according to BetMGM. They’re also favored to finish as the No. 1 seed in the NFC; they’re even money with the Rams to win the NFC championship game; and only the Chiefs and Bills have better odds to win the Super Bowl, even though the Eagles won their Week 2 game in Kansas City.

As the Birds embark on the second half of their season at 6-2 and visit Green Bay on Monday night, they hold a 2 1/2-game lead over Dallas and a head-to-head tiebreaker lead in the NFC over 6-2 Tampa Bay, which also rested last week.

Many experts, anticipating a Super Bowl hangover and convinced that the Eagles’ losses on defense would hurt them, favored the Packers and Lions over the Eagles to win the NFC this season.

But Green Bay lost at home to a mediocre Panthers team last weekend. Worse, the Pack also lost star tight end Tucker Kraft, whose 2025 season was mirroring Rob Gronkowski’s best years with the Patriots and Tom Brady.

Meanwhile, the Lions lost at home to the Vikings, whom the Eagles beat last month. The Birds also beat the 6-2 Rams in September.

In short, the Eagles have been injured, they have been tested and they have risen to the top midway through the season.

And they’re just getting started.

Heating up, healing up

It didn’t start pretty. Injury, inefficiency and a fractured training camp for many players left the Eagles at 4-2 entering the Minnesota game three weeks ago, and they were lucky to be 4-2. Then quarterback Jalen Hurts, his offensive line and his receivers began to get the hang of new coordinator Kevin Patullo’s offense.

Hurts compiled a career-best 158.3 passer rating against the Vikings. He followed up with his second-best mark, 141.5, in a revenge win over the Giants — a win without A.J. Brown, the best receiver in franchise history.

Brown is back, and the Eagles are getting healthier in general. Running back Saquon Barkley left the Giants game with a groin injury, but he’s fine now, too. Left guard Landon Dickerson’s touchy back, knee and ankle have had a week of rest, as did the lingering shoulder issues of right tackle Lane Johnson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter.

The Eagles opened the practice window for defensive end Nolan Smith, whose injured list stint precipitated the return of Brandon Graham, who had retired. Graham has not yet played in a game, so yes, you can consider him a reinforcement, too.

General manager Howie Roseman further bolstered the pass rush a day before Tuesday’s trade deadline when he sent a precious third-round pick to Miami for Jaelan Phillips, Precious? Indeed. In 2023, Kraft was a third-round pick.

Earlier, Roseman had landed cornerbacks Jaire Alexander from the Ravens and Michael Carter II from the Jets. For the moment, they are corrective depth pieces, less an effort to make the defense elite than a reflection of poor evaluation by Roseman regarding current cornerbacks Kelee Ringo and Adoree‘ Jackson, who have struggled.

Ringo and Jackson might be footnotes in a few weeks.

In fact, if Carter and Alexander get chances to play Monday night, Ringo and Jackson might be footnotes by Tuesday morning.

Next steps

A win Monday night will more firmly establish the Eagles atop the conference — but, as always, the first goal was winning the division.

It seems inevitable.

The Cowboys’ offense might be even better than predicted — they rank third in yards per game and fourth in scoring — but their defense was even worse than expected, especially after Jerry Jones traded Micah Parsons to the Packers. They rank 31st in a 32-team league.

The Commanders have not abandoned hope that Daniels could return later this season. He suffered manageable damage in the elbow. He might miss just two games, because the Commanders have a bye in Week 12. It sounds like wishful thinking, and it will probably be irrelevant.

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota has been awful. The defense ranks 28th. Terry McLaurin, the No. 1 receiver, missed five of the last six games with a recurring quadriceps injury, and he’s listed as “questionable” for Sunday. The team is 3-6, has lost four in a row, and, among their upcoming games, face the Lions, Vikings, Broncos and the Eagles — twice.

It’s not as if the Eagles’ last nine games will be easy. After Monday night, they still have to host the Lions, visit the 6-3 Chargers, and, chillingly, travel to 6-2 Buffalo on Dec. 28. Brrr.

Further, they’ve looked like a complete team only for the last two games, and the Giants blew them out Oct. 9. But the Eagles’ other loss was to the Broncos, who are 8-2 and have the best record in the NFL after winning on Thursday. The Broncos’ success makes the Eagles’ 21-17 home loss to Denver in Week 5 look a lot better.

On the other hand, the win in Philly is the only good win the Broncos have had, which is why BetMGM has them in 10th place in its Super Bowl odds. Still, given the struggles of every team ranked ahead of the Broncos, a Super Bowl rematch with the Eagles can’t be considered entirely out of the question.

The way it looks right now, the Eagles should have little problem holding up their end of that bargain.

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