{"id":914834,"date":"2026-06-10T04:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/914834\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T04:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:42:17","slug":"picking-the-nfc-east-winner-commanders-playoff-fate-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/914834\/","title":{"rendered":"Picking the NFC East winner & Commanders playoff fate – Survey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Commanders fans and fans across the country. Sign up here<\/a> to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.<\/p>\n

Today, we have two questions in the Reacts survey.<\/p>\n

Now that teams have completed free agency, the draft, and a couple of big June 1st trades have taken place in the NFL, rosters are pretty well set for training camp, so it\u2019s finally time to make some predictions. Today, we\u2019re gonna focus on the NFC division title and the Commanders\u2019 playoff future.<\/p>\n

The first question simply asks you to predict which of the four division teams will win the division crown in 2026.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the case that might be made by the fans of each of the four teams:<\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys are sure that this is their year! The team is primed to conquer the division under head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who looks to elevate an offense that consistently produced elite passing metrics in \u201825. Backed by new defensive coordinator Christian Parker and the crucial addition of top-11 draft pick Caleb Downs to dramatically upgrade a defense that allowed 511 points last year, Dallas has the roster firepower to secure the crown.<\/p>\n

The New York Giants have undergone a massive cultural overhaul by hiring head coach John Harbaugh to establish a winning foundation. By pairing his leadership with free-agency upgrades like playmaker Isaiah Likely to supercharge an offense that averaged 5.6 yards per play, New York has the structural blueprint to completely dominate the NFC East.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles possess an incredibly stable foundation under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. This defensive and head coaching continuity protects a roster that outgained opponents with 5,341 total yards last season while showcasing a highly disciplined offense that threw a mere 7 interceptions to dictate the pace of the division.<\/p>\n

The Washington Commanders are set to surge forward as defensive coordinator Daronte Jones unleashes an aggressive, newly revamped scheme, as will offensive coordinator David Blough, who brings a new philosophy to Jayden Daniels and the Commanders high-powered scoring attack. Supported by explosive roster upgrades like elite linebacker Leo Chenal to fix a defense that gave up 26.5 points per game last year, Washington has the tactical upgrades needed to claim the division title.<\/p>\n

Our second question asks you to gaze deep into your crystal ball to predict Washington\u2019s playoff fate.<\/p>\n

While the 11 choices on offer may look overwhelming, you basically just need to decide:<\/p>\n

Will they make the playoffs?If so, will they go as a wildcard team or as a division winner?How many playoff games will they win?<\/p>\n

Just put the answer to those three questions together to select your answer.<\/p>\n

Example 1: If you think the Commanders will be a wilcard team that loses in the divisional round, then you would select: \u201cWildcard 1-1\u201d<\/p>\n

Example 2: If you think the Commanders will be a division winner with a first round bye that loses in the NFC championship game, then you would select: \u201cNFCE Champ: 1-1\u201d<\/p>\n

Example 3: If you think the Commanders will be a division winner but not the top seed in the NFC that loses in the super bowl, then you would select: \u201cNFCE Champ: 3-1\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, we invite you to answer the survey questions below, but also feel free to expand on your answers and provide nuance in the comments section. While you are certainly free to simply share which choices you made on the survey questions, the most interesting comments will explain why you answered the way you did. I rely on those comments when discussing the results of the survey when they are posted in a separate article the next few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,106218,5379,2480],"class_list":["post-914834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washington-commanders-discussion","tag-washington-commanders-reacts","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116723983551007304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914834","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=914834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}