Famed NFC East Streak Will Continue if Dallas Cowboys Clinch Division Title

There’s no division in the National Football League (NFL) quite like the National Football Conference (NFC) East.

Since the Philadelphia Eagles won the division four years in a row from 2001-04, no team has won the East in consecutive seasons. The Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Commanders (under a variety of names) have all secured multiple division crowns in that span—just never twice in a row. The current 18-season streak without a repeat champion in the NFC East is the longest for any division in NFL history, according to ESPN, and the longest active such streak for any division across the NFL, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB).

The Cowboys can keep one of the wackiest streaks in the sport going on Sunday, the final day on the NFL’s regular-season calendar.

Here’s how.

Cowboys Clinch NFC East With Win

Dallas has already clinched a playoff spot, but a win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday would lock up the NFC East title, plus a home playoff game, for “America’s Team.”

That’s the most straightforward path to a division championship, at least. The Cowboys win the NFC East with a win over the Commanders, a tie plus an Eagles tie to the New York Giants, or just an Eagles loss. Dallas (11-5) would certainly like to keep its fate in its own hands by beating Washington, improving to 12-5 for the third consecutive year, and winning the East for the second time in the past three seasons.

If that’s the case, it won’t matter how Philly (11-5) finishes.

“We’ve got an opportunity to win the division and go out there and make a statement win and get ready for the playoffs,” Pro Bowl pass-rusher Micah Parsons told reporters. “… We have to go make a statement that we are the better team, the more dominant and aggressive team.”

Added Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin: “The playoffs start for us this week. It’s a must-win for us.”

The Cowboys and Eagles have already secured playoff appearances. The teams split their two regular-season meetings, though Dallas owns a tiebreaker thanks to a better conference record (9-3 vs. 8-4) than its division rival. If the Cowboys beat the Commanders, they would also secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff picture—in part because of a controversial win over the Detroit Lions—to go along with the East title. And the Cowboys, who finished 8-0 at home in the regular season, will take as many games at AT&T Stadium as they can get.

The Commanders, 4-12 and losers of seven straight, host the Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. ET.

How Eagles Can Still Win NFC East

The Eagles won the NFC East last season on their way to an eventual Super Bowl trip. And while the franchise’s hopes of capturing the division for a second year in a row—and snapping the East’s streak of not having consecutive division winners in the process—are slim, Philly does still have life.

Philadelphia can still win the East if one of these two scenarios occurs:

1. The Eagles win and the Cowboys lose or tie OR
2. The Eagles tie and the Cowboys lose

“We want to be playing our best football going into the playoffs,” Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert said earlier this week. “We haven’t done that, and that’s why Sunday means a lot. We know they’re going to have some adjustments against us, but it’s nice being familiar with them and knowing what they might do to try to stop us. I’m taking the positive approach there.”

The Eagles were once in control of the NFC at 10-1, but four losses in their last five games have relegated them to a Wild Card spot. If Philly can’t get some Week 18 luck to go its way, that’s where the team will stay.

Without a division title, the Eagles will head into the postseason as the top Wild Card team and play the NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers next weekend.

The 5-11 Giants host the Eagles at 4:25 p.m. ET.