Eagles-Packers predictions: National media expert picks for Week 12 Sunday Night Football

The Eagles nearly suffered their second straight loss last Sunday when they needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Indianapolis Colts. The comeback was successful, however, and the Eagles improved to 9-1 on the season, a game (and a tiebreaker) ahead of the NFC’s second-place team, the Minnesota Vikings.

This week, the Eagles will welcome Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers into the Linc for a prime-time matchup on Sunday Night Football, a game in which the Eagles will debut a new-look uniform, thanks to the addition of their alternate black helmets.

But will that lead to a win for a team who has, despite going 1-1 the last two weeks, looked a bit more mortal than they did during their dominant 8-0 start? Or will Rodgers and Co. hand the Birds their second loss in three weeks?

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The oddsmakers have the Eagles as a 6.5-point favorite on Sunday night, according to FanDuel, but what about football writers and analysts around the country? As we do each week, let’s take a spin around the block and see what the national experts are saying about this Week 12 matchup. But first, we’ll start right here with our own beat writers.

For the first time in a while, our writers are split over the outcome of this one. Here’s a bit of Jeff McLane’s pick for Eagles-Packers ...

Not everyone is as optimistic as McLane. For the rest of his prediction and to find out which of our writers is picking against the Eagles (and why), check out their full predictions here.

Here’s a look at what football analysts around the country have to say about this week’s Eagles-Packers matchup ...

· ESPN.com: Normally, we use ESPN’s big board of expert predictions, but they must all have the week off for the holiday because not a single analyst has a pick listed under his or her name. In lieu of that, we’re rolling with ESPN’s Seth Walder and Eric Moody, who have the Birds winning fairly comfortably.

· NFL.com: Gregg Rosenthal is again picking the Eagles to win, but not cover. I’d have to go back and check, but it feels like Rosenthal has picked the Birds every game this season — which has been working out pretty well for him so far.

· CBS Sports: Seven of their eight experts are predicting an Eagles’ win. However, when it comes to the spread, just two of them think the Birds cover.

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· Sports Illustrated: Three of the five football experts at the MMQB are picking the Eagles over the Packers.

· Yahoo! Sports: Frank Schwab only picks against the spread. But that doesn’t matter for our purposes here, since he thinks the last two weeks will serve as “a wake-up call” for the Birds, and that they’ll not only win on Sunday night, but they’ll cover the spread as well.

· The Ringer: The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia also only makes picks against the spread. Unlike Schwab, however, he thinks the Packers cover the spread — but he makes sure to note that he has the Eagles winning the game.

· The Athletic: For the first time in several weeks, it’s not a clean sweep over at The Athletic. But nine out of 10 writers taking the Eagles isn’t bad.

· USA TODAY: Five of their six experts are taking the Eagles in this one.

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· Pro Football Talk: Mike Florio and Michael David Smith have the Birds winning and covering the spread against the Packers.

· Bleacher Report: Only two of their six experts think the Eagles cover, but the overall consensus is a victory for the Birds.