The good news for the Commanders is we control our destiny. Unlike in previous years, we're not going to have to go on some ridiculous 5 game run and watch other teams to see if they are going lose so we can sneak in.
All we have to do is beat the teams we should, in theory, beat, assuming the team plays the way it did before injuries started piling up.
The rest of it is going to take care of itself.
For the division: Philly isn't going to run the table. If they do, they do, but I don't think they will. They still have games against the Ravens and the Steelers left. They also travel to LA to play the Rams. If they lose either of the AFC North games, they still play us, and if we split with them, we're exactly the same in the loss column.
For the wild card, I doubt we catch Minnesota record wise. But they will also lose a couple down the stretch.
The biggest question mark right now is going to be the NFC West. Arizona is leading the division at 6-4. The rest of the teams are 5-5. And they all play each other:
- Arizona still has 4 division games left
- SF has 2 division games left, but also plays both Detroit and Buffalo
- The Rams have 3 division games left, but also play Buffalo and Philly
- Seattle has 3 division games left, but also plays Minny and GB
It's really impossible to figure out with this number of games remaining who's going to beat who, but the fact is, all of the teams at the top of the wild card are playing each other, so some of them are going to take losses.
I kindof think Arizona is going to end up with the west, and none of the others will make the playoffs. A healthy SF team in the playoffs would be scary, but they have probably the toughest schedule.
We just need to win the games we should win. Everything else will work itself out.