Tony Romo 'Romos' away chance to put heat on Eagles, playoff scenarios updated

The Cowboys led 26-3 at the half against the Packers, and were in complete control. If they had held onto the win and then beaten a horrid Washington team in Week 16, it would have put the Eagles in a "must win" scenario against the Bears next Sunday night, and then again in Week 17 against the Cowboys in the regular season finale.

Instead, Tony Romo threw two INTs in the final 3 minutes (the "Double Romo"), and the Cowboys suffered yet another epic meltdown. At a minimum, the Eagles cannot be eliminated from playoff contention no matter what happens against the Bears next week.

There are now some interesting playoff scenarios.

• If the Cowboys lose next week to Washington, the Eagles can clinch the division with a win over the Bears.

• If the Cowboys beat Washington, the Eagles' game against the Bears is mostly meaningless, at least from the standpoint of the division crown. They would have to play the Cowboys in an "NFC East Championship Game" of sorts in Week 17 regardless.

That would leave Chip Kelly with an interesting decision. Since the Eagles-Bears game got flexed to Sunday night, they'll already know the outcome of Cowboys-Redskins before the opening kick. Would Kelly rest his starters Week 16 if the game is mostly meaningless? The Eagles could certainly stand to get better, as evidenced by their bad performance in Minnesota. Players don't get better by standing on the sidelines. There's also the somewhat less important factor of whether or not the Eagles could earn the 3 seed instead of the 4 seed in the NFC. The Eagles would avoid having to play in Seattle in round 2 if they were to advance past round 1 of the playoffs, but that's probably looking a little too far ahead.

The Eagles' put together a brutal performance Sunday against the Vikings. They're fortunate that the Cowboys one-upped them. "Anything you can do, we can do worse."