The NFC East is a disaster right now.
If the Washington Commanders don’t beat the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football, the NFC East will have gone two straight weeks without a win. If that happens, it’ll be the first time a division has gone winless in two straight weeks since the AFL-NFL merger in the 1960s.
The NFC East entered the 2026 season with a lot of hype, as always. The Cowboys, Eagles, Giants and Commanders were all seen as potential playoff contenders.
But, six weeks into the season, the Cowboys, Eagles and Commanders all have losing records, while the Giants are injured and hanging on by a thread, coming off a home loss to the Saints.
© Amber Searls-Imagn Images
Still, because of the NFL’s playoff rules, the winner of the dismal NFC East will still make the postseason. And, not only that, they’ll get to host a playoff game at home.
Should that be the case?
NFL insider Mike Florio is among those urging the league to change its playoff rules, due to how poor the NFC East is this season.
“Someone from the NFC East is guaranteed to make the playoffs AND host a postseason game. How can a league that supposedly cares about competitive balance/integrity continue to allow that? A better team from another division in the conference is going to be SOL in January,” he shared on X.
This feels like an overreaction right now, though
For one, it’s only Week 6. The Giants do not have a terrible record and it’s possible teams like the Cowboys or Commanders could go on a run down the stretch.
Also, in past years, teams from the AFC South, NFC South, etc. have all finished with rough records and still made the playoffs and hosted a playoff game.
This has been the case for a while, so it feels weird to make it about the NFC East in 2026.
