The Philadelphia Eagles are off to a disappointing start to the NFL season.
The NFC champions of two of the past four seasons and just two years removed from a Super Bowl win, the Eagles are now losers of three straight games and have a losing record for the first time under head coach Nick Sirianni. Bluntly, the vibes in Philadelphia are pretty awful.
It appears the NFL has taken notice of the Eagles’ free fall, as the league is reportedly considering flexing out of Week 8’s scheduled Sunday Night Football showdown between the Eagles and the Washington Commanders.
According to Rob Tornoe at the Philadelphia Inquirer, the league is looking through potential options to shift another game into the primetime slot on NBC, and has until October 20 to make a decision. That means that this week’s results—the Eagles host the Carolina Panthers and the Commanders are on the road against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night—will be able to be considered before the NFL makes a final call on moving off of the game.
The Commanders’ trip to San Francisco could prove especially important to the game’s chances of staying in primetime, as the 49ers are undefeated so far this season and could potentially blow out Washington in not-very-fun-t0-watch fashion. If that happens, the league might be hesitant to throw the Commanders back on national television again so quickly. The same could be true if the Eagles no-show against the Panthers.
As Tonroe notes in his story, the NFL will likely be quite limited in potential replacement games due to the protections that CBS and Fox have over certain matchups throughout the season. One of the best potential games that would be available to shuffle is the matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the currently winless Los Angeles Chargers, which, if the roles were reversed, might also have the league considering a flex.
The simplest solution is also the one that the NFL is hoping for—that the Eagles turn things around and look good enough next week against the Panthers to ensure that a divisional matchup feels worthy of primetime. The league has a good amount invested in the Eagles’ success this season, as they have seven more standalone games to finish the year, including four in primetime slots and high-profile windows like Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
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