The Cowboys have a chance at the NFC East. Will it actually happen?
FRISCO - After the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Detroit Lions in a 44-30 blowout, the chances of winning the NFC East didn't look great.
Indeed, Dallas' playoff odds shriveled up to well below 7 percent.
But then the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, making it three failures in a row for Nick Sirianni's Basket-Case championship team.
Philly won the Super Bowl. The excellence of the roster is undeniable.
But ...
One other thing we know about the Eagles is that their locker-room mentality is fragile and easily combustible.
We've seen it before, in 2023, when they started 10-1 before losing five of their last six to finish 11-6, and then being obliterated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wildcard round of the playoffs. ...
All due to some in-house backbiting and insecurities and selfishness.
Could something similar be happening again?
My friend RJ Choppy at 105.3 The Fan has a bold and interesting take on how the final four games of the season could play out for Dallas and Philadelphia.
"Not only are the Cowboys going to win the NFC East, they're going to win the NFC East by more than a game," Choppy proclaimed on 105.3 The Fan. "Philadelphia might finish the season with a (only) winning record. After (the Chargers loss), I'm convinced they might finish the season with (only) a winning record."
Then when asked how he sees the next four games playing out, Choppy laid it all out there.
"I don't see the Cowboys losing," he said. "The Chargers are trash, the Vikings suck, and obviously the Commanders and Giants. Philadelphia is not going to lose because the other teams are better, they are so in their own heads."
Choppy also predicted the Eagles would lose to the Commanders twice and that they'd lose at Buffalo while beating the Las Vegas Raiders.
Here, we put together an optimistic Cowboys schedule prediction guide for how Dallas can win all four games remaining to end at 10-6-1 ... which would mean the 8-5 Eagles have to make sure they win three of their final four.
Choppy has the Eagles going 1-3 to finish the year. Losing to the Commanders twice and also losing to the Giants? That could be asking a bit too much.
But it is certainly mathematically in play.
Same with Dallas. It's hard to say "the Chargers are trash'' as they are 9-4 after the OT win over Philly ... so winning out here is hardly a sure thing.
But as we often say around here, the first playoff-related goal is to be "a contender in December.'' The Cowboys have achieved that.
The Eagles crumbling? It's a matter of record that in recent history, we've seen them achieve that, too.
"At the end of the day we're focused on beating Minnesota," Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer said of this Sunday night's matchup. "We're going to do what we got to do, and if you start looking too far ahead of, 'OkK if this happens, if that happens,' you're going to drive yourself crazy. And I'm not going to do that."
Cool. But the rest of us are going to do exactly that.