NFC East title ensures Washington will play 1st-place 2021 schedule originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Football Team claimed its first NFC East title in five years Sunday, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14 in a Week 17 game that punched the team its ticket to the playoffs.
Even with a 7-9 record, Washington will host a home playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night. The team will get the division-winning perk of holding the No. 4 seed, which could come back to help them if they move on and face a lower-seeded team later in the playoffs.
However, Washington’s division title also locked them into a first-place schedule for 2021. As excited and motivated as the team is to make its current playoff appearance count, Washington wasn’t expected to be a true contender until next season at the earliest. Now, whatever happens in the playoffs this season, when Washington goes into 2021 with Super Bowl aspirations, it will face a tougher slate to get there.
Here’s a look at the opponents Washington will face in 2021:
NFC East: 2x Dallas Cowboys (6-10 in 2020), 2x New York Giants (6-10), 2x Philadelphia Eagles (4-11-1)
Washington will play its usual home-and-home series against each of its divisional opponents, accounting for six of its 16 games on the schedule. The team went 4-2 against the NFC East this season, sweeping its series with the Cowboys and Eagles but losing both games against the Giants.
NFC South: vs. New Orleans Saints (12-4), vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5), @ Carolina Panthers (5-11), @ Atlanta Falcons (4-12)
Every team plays one division in its own conference each year on a rotating basis. In 2021, the NFC East and South divisions will be matched up with one another, setting up a few intriguing games for Washington. The team will have to face the Saints coming off their fourth-straight division title, the Buccaneers in a rematch of this weekend’s playoff game, the Panthers in Ron Rivera’s second chance at beating his former team and the Falcons fresh off picking fourth overall in the draft.
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AFC West: vs. Kansas City Chiefs (14-2), @ Las Vegas Raiders (8-8), vs. Los Angeles Chargers (7-9), @ Denver Broncos (5-11)
Washington’s turn in the AFC division rotation will pit it against the Chiefs, which promises to be one of its most difficult matchups of the season. However, the team does get to face the rest of the AFC West, which didn’t fare particularly well in 2020. The Chargers are on the hunt for a new head coach after firing Anthony Lynn while the Raiders and Broncos go into the offseason facing questions about their respective starting quarterbacks.
Ranking-based matchups: TBD vs. Green Bay Packers (13-3), TBD vs. Seattle Seahawks (12-4)
The final two games of Washington’s schedule will be filled by the other two NFC teams that finished first in their respective divisions. Though the locations have yet to be determined, Washington will play the reigning No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in the Packers and Seahawks, respectively. That means Washington will play five of the 11 teams to finish with at least 11 wins this season — including all four from the NFC.
