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Chip Kelly: If 11 wins doesn't get Eagles in playoffs, then 'shame on us'
By John Breech / CBSSports.com
December 18, 2014 12:31 PM ET
Chip Kelly knows that missing the playoffs at 11-5 is possible. (USATSI)
If the Philadelphia Eagles finish the season 11-5 and miss the playoffs, you won't hear a complaint from coach Chip Kelly. Kelly will simply blame himself and his team for not winning the 'right games.'
"Right now, we've only got nine wins," Kelly said Wednesday, viaESPN.com. "I mean, for us to think of questions like that, that doesn't help us beat Washington. So I don't really think about it. If we win 11 games and it's not good enough to get in, shame on us because we didn't win the right games. That's the bottom line. That's what this whole deal is all about and we know it going in."
Kelly's exactly right: The Eagles haven't won the right games.
Three of Philadelphia's five losses this season have been to Seattle, Green Bay and Arizona, which means the Eagles would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker against any of those teams. The Eagles would also lose a conference record tiebreaker to the Lions.
If the Eagles do go 11-5 and miss the playoffs, it wouldn't be the first time an 11-5 team has missed the playoffs, but it is rare: It's only happened two times since the NFL expanded to a 16 game schedule in 1978.
The 2008 Patriots -- led by Matt Cassel -- missed the playoffs at 11-5. New England missed out on the AFC East title to the 11-5 Dolphins due to a conference record tiebreaker. The Patriots also lost out on a wild card spot to the 11-5 Ravens due to a conference record tiebreaker.
The other 11-5 team to miss the playoffs was the 1985 Denver Broncos. The Broncos finished second in the AFC West behind the 12-4 Raiders, then lost out on wild card tiebreakers to the Jets and Patriots, who both finished 11-5. |
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