Oddsmakers May Peg Eagles As Underdogs, Stats Show Otherwise
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- While the Eagles enter Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings as underdogs according to the oddsmakers, there are some stats and trends that point to an Eagles victory.
We'll start with the fact that the home team has won the last eight NFC/AFC Title games, and that the last eight Number 1 seeds that have reached a conference championship game are undefeated. As we hear from Paul Jolowitz of our sister station 94 WIP, the Eagles are also 4-0 as home underdogs in the postseason.
"Most of those were 20, 30 years ago, but it is what it is and of course they won last week," he said. "So they definitely have that one looking in their direction."
The Eagles are also 3-0 vs Minnesota in the playoffs, and the Vikings are 0-4 on the road in NFC Title games.
Minnesota won on a miracle last second touchdown last week, but the five previous teams to do that in the postseason went on to lose the following week.
Jolowitz offers his thoughts on why that might be.
"You get a walk off, you're on a huge emotional high and yeah sometimes it's tough to get back to that emotional high even though you know you have to do it," he said. "Maybe it's that, maybe it's simply the fact they walked into a buzzsaw the next game, but it is what it is."
Another bit of history that might be in the Eagles favor is that the last time the Philadelphia Eagles reached the Super Bowl the two teams they beat along the way were Atlanta and Minnesota.
CBS 3 Meteorologist Katie Fehlinger says weather has also been a factor for the birds, "Historically, warmth has been on the Eagles side!"
Specifically in the playoffs, they've gone 3-0 with an average of 27 points per game when the temperature was at least 40 degrees while holding opponents to an average of 15-points.
Fehlinger expects the temperature at kickoff to be 44 degrees.
While the game will be decided by the players on the field and the coaches on the sidelines, there's nothing wrong with Eagles fans hoping that these are all trends that will continue for at least one more week.