By Zach Berman, Brooks Kubena and Nicki Jhabvala<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Eagles needed to beat the Washington Commanders in Week 18 and get some out-of-town help to clinch the No. 2 seed in the NFC for a second year in a row. But they were foiled by the most unlikely character: third-string Commanders quarterback Josh Johnson \u2014 a 39-year-old journeyman who hadn\u2019t won an NFL start since 2018.<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s 24-17 win left the Eagles as the No. 3 seed in the NFC. They will face the sixth-seeded San Francisco 49ers in the opening round. It will be a rematch of the 2023 NFC Championship Game, a 31-7 Eagles win.<\/p>\n
Because the Detroit Lions upset the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Eagles (11-6) would have been the No. 2 seed had they beaten the Commanders (5-12).<\/p>\n
But with the NFC East title already assured, the Eagles made it clear that wasn\u2019t their priority. They started backup quarterback Tanner McKee, and rested starting QB Jalen Hurts, tight end Dallas Goedert, wide receiver A.J. Brown, running back Saquon Barkley and a host of other mainstays on both sides of the ball. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith exited early after reaching 1,000 receiving yards for the season. The Commanders sat left tackle Laremy Tunsil and started Johnson for a second consecutive game after injuries to Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota.<\/p>\n
McKee finished 21-of-40 for 241 yards and a touchdown; he was sacked three times and threw an interception. The Eagles\u2019 three fourth-quarter drives ended in a punt and two turnovers on downs.<\/p>\n
Josh Johnson, meanwhile, brought the Commanders back from a 17-10 fourth-quarter deficit with two touchdown drives, scoring the decisive touchdown on a third-and-goal scramble from the 1-yard line.<\/p>\n
49ers up next<\/p>\n
The Eagles spoiled an opportunity to secure the No. 2 seed, and they\u2019re now preparing to host the 49ers. Had the Eagles jumped to the No. 2 seed, they would have hosted the reeling Green Bay Packers. The Eagles did not play the 49ers this season. They last played in the 2023 regular season, when the 49ers\u2019 42-19 victory avenged their loss in the NFC Championship Game months earlier. If the Eagles beat the 49ers and the Bears beat the Packers, the Eagles would travel to Chicago in the divisional round. With the No. 2 seed, the Eagles would instead have hosted the Bears. The Eagles could still host a divisional-round game with a win and a Bears loss. The Eagles knew the stakes entering the game and favored rest \u2014 what they viewed as a manufactured bye \u2014 entering the postseason. \u2014 Zach Berman, Eagles beat writer<\/p>\n
Eagles backups can\u2019t hold<\/p>\n
An Eagles defense that fielded mostly backups could not deny the Commanders from scoring touchdowns on two consecutive goal-to-go scenarios to finish the game. When Johnson scrambled for that 1-yard touchdown to set the final score, the only Eagles regulars were involved along the defensive line. Jalyx Hunt, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo and Nolan Smith started. Hunt capped a sophomore season in which he substantially improved by jumping a Johnson pass for his third interception of the season. Hunt led the Eagles in both interceptions and sacks (6.5) in 2025.<\/p>\n
The performance of the Eagles\u2019 secondary once again revealed its lack of depth. Apart from his interception, the 39-year-old Johnson was 14-of-22 passing for 131 yards and a touchdown. The Commanders converted six of 11 third downs, converted their only fourth-down situation and scored three touchdowns on their four red-zone trips. Backup defensive backs Jakorian Bennett, Mac McWilliams and Kelee Ringo were each flagged for pass interference. (Bennett was flagged twice.) The Eagles are far more formidable under Vic Fangio when playing at full strength. The playoffs will reveal how beneficial it was for the starters to receive a rest. \u2014 Brooks Kubena, Eagles beat writer<\/p>\n
McKee\u2019s uneven day<\/p>\n
McKee had an uneven audition for the rest of the NFL and couldn\u2019t deliver the Eagles a victory as he did in the season finale last year. McKee, the Eagles\u2019 third-year backup quarterback, has been a subject of intrigue in Philadelphia throughout his Eagles career. The interception was especially costly, coming at the Commanders\u2019 20-yard line with a chance to score. He also couldn\u2019t lead the Eagles on a game-tying drive late in the game. The caveat is McKee, in his only start of the year, played with reserves against the Commanders\u2019 starting defense, so his performance might have looked different had he played with the Eagles\u2019 starters. McKee excelled in relief last season and followed it up with a sterling outing in the preseason, prompting curiosity about his future with the team. McKee has one year left on his contract and there could be outside interest from teams seeking a potential starting quarterback. But that case would have been stronger with a win and gaudier statistics. \u2014 Berman<\/p>\n
Washington will pick seventh<\/p>\n
Washington finally got a win, but it came at a cost: The Commanders fell to No. 7 in the draft order after entering the game at No. 6 (courtesy of the Cleveland Browns\u2019 earlier win over the Cincinnati Bengals in addition to other results). \u2014 Nicki Jhabvala, Commanders beat writer<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s moment<\/p>\n
Sunday was for Josh Johnson. The 39-year old threw his first touchdown since 2021 and scored his first rushing touchdown since 2018. Johnson\u2019s keeper gave the Commanders the lead with 2:32 remaining. \u2014 Jhabvala<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s mistakes persist<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s defense needs so much work. The Commanders continue to miss routine tackles, continue to give up easy yards in the middle of the field, continue to struggle with covering tight ends and continue to make backup quarterbacks look like seasoned veterans. Unlike last season, when they seemingly mastered situational ball, the Commanders often appeared sloppy and inattentive this season. And safety Quan Martin\u2019s rough season was capped by losing the start to Jeremy Reaves. Martin was benched twice earlier for mistakes in games. This was the first time he was benched as a starter. Martin entered this game with an average of 18.7 yards allowed per catch, the highest average among safeties with at least 500 coverage snaps. He had allowed a 151.8 passer rating when targeted in coverage. \u2014 Jhabvala<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Zach Berman, Brooks Kubena and Nicki Jhabvala The Philadelphia Eagles needed to beat the Washington Commanders in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,4538,71,70,18022],"class_list":{"0":"post-77916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-philadelphia","9":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","10":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","11":"tag-philadelphia-news","12":"tag-washington-commanders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}