The Philadelphia Eagles are in the race for home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs, but their hopes of actually getting the No. 1 seed took a significant hit with the Detroit Lions' victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night. Philadelphia would have been in prime position to pass Detroit if the Lions lost to Green Bay, but the victory significantly helped Detroit's path towards the No. 1 seed, an opening-round bye and home-field advantage in the conference.
The Lions will remain (at least) one game ahead of the Eagles after Week 14 (Eagles host the Carolina Panthers this week) with four games to play. Here's a look at the Lions' and Eagles' remaining schedules:
- Lions (12-1): vs. Bills (10-2), at Bears (4-8), at 49ers (5-7), vs. Vikings (10-2)
- Eagles (10-2): vs. Panthers (3-9), vs. Steelers (9-3), at Commanders (7-5), vs. Cowboys (5-7), vs. Giants (2-10)
With an Eagles victory on Sunday, they will still be one game back of the Lions. Both the Eagles and Lions play AFC opponents in Week 15 before finishing off their regular season schedule with three NFC opponents. The Lions hold the first tiebreaker for home-field advantage -- conference record -- meaning a Week 15 loss to the Bills and an Eagles win over the Steelers would still keep Detroit ahead of Philadelphia for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. That's because the Lions would be 8-1 in the conference while the Eagles would be 7-2.
Detroit has the other tiebreakers in hand, too, when going through the tale of the tape for both the Lions and Eagles.
Race for home-field advantage
| Tiebreaker | Lions | Eagles |
|---|---|---|
Overall Record | 12-1 | 10-2 |
Conference Record | 8-1 | 6-3 |
Record against common opponents* | 5-1 | 4-1 |
Strength of victory | .507 | .415 |
| Strength of schedule | .506 | .429 |
*Common opponents are the Packers (Lions play Packers twice), Buccaneers, Cowboys, (Eagles play Cowboys twice), Jaguars, and Rams
Since the Lions and Eagles don't play each other in the regular seaosn, these are the tiebreaking procedures for home-field advantage:
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
- Strength of victory in all games.
- Strength of schedule in all games.
The Lions are in control of the race for home-field advantage, only having to go 3-0 against their NFC opponents to wrap up the No. 1 seed (no matter the result to Buffalo). Even if the Lions beat the Bills and lose to one of the their remaining NFC opponents, Detroit would still get the No. 1 seed based on strength of victory.
The Eagles have to win out and hope the Lions lose to the Bills and one of those NFC opponents to secure home-field advantage. The Lions own all the tiebreakers if both teams end up with the same record.