The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t earn home-field advantage in the NFC this year, but despite that, they could still make NFL history on Sunday based on the amount of home games they’ve played in the postseason.
The Eagles are the second team to get three home games in the same postseason and if they beat the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game, they’ll become the first team in NFL history to WIN three home playoff games in the same postseason. There have been several instances where a team won three ROAD playoff games on their way to a Super Bowl win — Tom Brady and the Buccaneers did exactly that in 2020 — but no team has ever won three home games on their way to the Super Bowl.
One reason it’s never happened is because it wasn’t even possible for a team to host three playoff games until the NFL expanded the postseason from 12 to 14 teams in 2020. This is the fifth season that the NFL has had 14 teams in the playoffs and in that time, only one other team has hosted three playoff games in the same season. That came in 2021 with the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Chiefs ended up losing in the AFC title game that year to the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Under the old format, the Eagles and 2021 Chiefs would have gotten a bye in the wild-card round, so hosting three playoff games wouldn’t have been possible. Also, any team that won during the wild-card round was automatically sent on the road in the divisional round under the old format. Under the new format, the No. 2 seed doesn’t get a bye: They have to play in the wild-card round with their biggest advantage now being that they’re guaranteed a home playoff game in the divisional round as long as they win their first game. The other advantage is that if the No. 1 seed goes down, then that opens the door for the No. 2 seed to host three playoffs games, which is what’s happening this year thanks to Washington’s upset win over the top-seeded Lions. (In 2021, the No. 1 seed was the Titans and they lost to the Bengals in the divisional round).
The Eagles have won nine straight games at Lincoln Financial Field, so they’re probably thrilled to be getting a third home game. Also, playing at home has been a massive advantage over the past few years with home teams going 26-8 since the start of the 2022 season (Of course, the Commanders probably won’t be intimidated considering they have two of those eight road wins).
The Los Angeles Rams have also played three home games in a single postseason, but it doesn’t technically count, because their final “home” game came in Super Bowl LVI, a neutral-site game where they were actually the “visiting” team. The Rams hosted a wild-card game in 2021 at SoFi Stadium before also hosting the NFC title game. After beating the 49ers 20-17 in the NFC Championship, they returned to SoFI and beat the Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI.
Not only is it rare for a team to play three home games, but it’s also rare for a stadium to host three postseason games in the same season. Lincoln Financial Field will become the fourth stadium to host three games in a single postseason.
Here are the other three:
- 2021 GEHA Field (Kansas City)
- 2021 SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles)
- 1986 Giants Stadium (East Rutherford)
The situation at Giants Stadium actually involved two teams. In 1986, the Jets hosted a game in the wild-card round, which was followed by the Giants hosting a divisional round game and the NFC title game. In a twist, the Giants actually played Washington in the NFC title game back in 1986, which was the last time two NFC East teams both made it to the NFC title game. In 1986, Washington lost in the NFC title game and the team that beat them went on to win the Super Bowl, so the Eagles will be hoping that history repeats itself.
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