January 02, 2026
It's the regular season finale, and a Tanner McKee game as the Eagles intend to rest their starters ahead of the playoffs, leaving their chances at the NFC's No.2 seed in the hands of their backups, though up against what has been a bad and banged up Washington team all year.
Will McKee and the reserves put the Eagles in the win column one more time before the real show gets underway?
Here are the betting odds and the PV staff's predictions for how Week 18 will close out...
TV: CBS (Kevin Harlan, Ross Tucker, Melanie Collins)
RADIO: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese, Mike Quick, Devan Kaney)
| Sportsbook | Spread | Money Line | Total O/U |
| DraftKings | PHI -7 | WSH +250 PHI -310 | 41.5 |
| FanDuel | PHI -6.5 | WSH +260 PHI -320 | 41.5 |
| BetRivers | PHI -7 | WSH +255 PHI -345 | 41.5 |
| BetMGM | PHI -7 | WSH +280 PHI -350 | 41 |
| Caesars | PHI -7 | WSH +270 PHI -335 | 41 |
*Lines as of Tuesday, Dec. 30
The Eagles will be resting starters in this matchup. In case you missed it, we itemized the pros and cons of that decision on Friday, and determined that they're doing the right thing.
Part of the logic of resting starters is that they should be able to beat the Commanders anyway, for the following reasons:
1. The Commanders are awful, just generally.
2. They're very likely starting QB3 Josh Johnson.
3. They have more than a dozen notable players on IR, plus a bunch of other guys not on IR who are shut down for the season.
4. The guys who will play can't possibly be fired up about playing backups and should already have their bags packed for Cabo.
5. They have draft positioning on the line, and their owner is not morally opposed to tanking.
Meanwhile, the Eagles' backups should be sufficiently motivated to play hard and play well, as their season is not over and it's a chance to show what they can do, but in positive circumstances. They'll be led by Tanner McKee, who always looks the part of a future NFL starter when he gets chances to play, and at a minimum is way better than Johnson. Give me the Birds to finish out the season with a 12-5 record.
MORE: Eagles-Commanders tale of the tape
The Eagles will be playing backups all over. The Commanders have been doing that for months.
It'll be nice to see Tanner McKee get some run, but it'll be behind a patchwork o-line that'll probably have some issues with protection and opening run lanes. The Eagles will have to design an offense that'll get the ball out of McKee's hands quickly and lean more on ball control than shot plays, so figure on a low-scoring output for both teams.
The hunch here is this thing is close in the fourth quarter and Washington strikes a big play against an Eagles secondary that'll feature Sydney Brown, Kelee Ringo, Jakorian Bennett and other backups to get a late score and pull away.
Just because it would be funny, and like the most Philly thing ever, I feel like the second-string offense exploding and running the score up on Washington would be awesome, and would spark some idiots on WIP to argue for Tanner McKee in the playoffs. Philly's roster is so deep that their second string is good enough to win this game and I think they will, with Tang Bigsby and Will Shipley running wild on a Commanders defense with many holes.
MORE: Are the Eagles right to rest the starters?
As of this writing, word broke that the Eagles are expected to rest most of their starters for Sunday.
And you know what? That's fine. Tanner McKee and the Eagles' reserves are more than capable of taking on a really bad Washington team and coming out on top. They already did similar in last season's Week 18 finale, when McKee led an effort that easily disposed of a group of Giants starters who were actually trying.
"Man, did you see Tanner McKee just throwing dimes all over the field?" starting center Cam Jurgens quipped after that game as he watched from the sideline resting.
I see the Eagles' backups pulling through and keeping the team in the mix for the No. 2 seed.
What I'm really curious to see, though, is if the offensive playcalling and gameplanning alters any with McKee taking the snaps, and if so, how much more efficiently it might or might not run.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
