{"id":653522,"date":"2026-01-04T15:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/653522\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T15:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:12:13","slug":"why-eagles-are-starting-tanner-mckee-at-qb-with-jalen-hurts-not-playing-in-week-18-playoff-scenarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/653522\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Eagles are starting Tanner McKee at QB with Jalen Hurts not playing in Week 18 playoff scenarios"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/philadelphia-eagles\/news\/why-eagles-starting-tanner-mckee-qb-jalen-hurts-not-playing-week-18-playoff-scenarios\/3617f119ccb3542755c6598f?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Why Eagles are starting Tanner McKee at QB with Jalen Hurts not playing in Week 18 playoff scenarios;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Why Eagles are starting Tanner McKee at QB with Jalen Hurts not playing in Week 18 playoff scenarios<\/a> originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Sporting News;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Preferred Source by clicking here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/philadelphia-eagles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Philadelphia Eagles;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> are taking it easy in Week 18.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Jalen Hurts won&#8217;t be playing. Instead, Tanner McKee will start at quarterback against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/washington-commanders\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Commanders;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Washington Commanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a choice made by Nick Sirianni despite there technically being a seed boost the Eagles still have on the table.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/news\/what-nfl-games-matter-today-playoff-picture-standings-week-18\/a7fbe990f0b67117066f005b\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Breaking down what NFL games matter today;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Breaking down what NFL games matter today<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What do the Eagles have to play for in Week 18?<\/p>\n<p>The Eagles are currently the NFC&#8217;s No. 3 seed but could still ascend to the 2-seed.<\/p>\n<p>The Eagles would be No. 2 if they win against the Commanders\u00a0and\u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/chicago-bears\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Chicago Bears;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Chicago Bears<\/a> lose to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/detroit-lions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Detroit Lions;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Detroit Lions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The 2-seed would mean hosting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/green-bay-packers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Packers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Packers<\/a> next week to open the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>The 3-seed would host either the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:49ers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">49ers<\/a> (if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/los-angeles-rams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Rams;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Rams<\/a> win on Sunday) or the Rams, if they lose on Sunday to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/arizona-cardinals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Cardinals;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Cardinals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why is Tanner McKee playing, not Jalen Hurts?<\/p>\n<p>The Eagles decided the No. 2 or 3 seed is not a key difference, given that only the No. 1 seed in each conference gets a bye.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;ll be playing at home next weekend either way, and they want to be sure Hurts is available.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>McKee is a solid backup and could beat the Commanders anyway.<\/p>\n<p>More NFL news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why Eagles are starting Tanner McKee at QB with Jalen Hurts not playing in Week 18 playoff scenarios&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[220,391,113,25,7,492,6,5351,428,242,109,2476,424,1840,425,111],"class_list":{"0":"post-653522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-chicago-bears","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-eagles","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jalen-hurts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nick-sirianni","16":"tag-packers","17":"tag-philadelphia","18":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","19":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","20":"tag-rams","21":"tag-tanner-mckee","22":"tag-the-eagles","23":"tag-washington-commanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115837478160326792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}