Does Washington Have a Wild (Card) Chance?

The Coronavirus has ruined many things but it could lead to more of a chance that the Washington Football Team makes the NFL playoffs.

ASHBURN, Va. - Since upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 of this NFL season, coach Ron Rivera and the Washington Football Team have clearly been aiming for a division title.

That opportunity still exists. But they might have an outside shot at another postseason path. 

Everything WFT is doing has been about chasing the division title, and yes, development, too - but not over winning. Some have an issue with this philosophy, maintaining a 'mixed-messages' mantra and a hope of "tanking.''

That doesn't seem to be the way anybody in the NFC East is leaning.

READ MORE: Beasts of the East? 

With a win this Sunday over the Giants, the WFT could be 3-5 and 3-1 in the division. Along with this comes opportunities that have never presented themselves before this year. 

We already knew about the extra wild-card team now in play, for the first time in modern NFL history. A seventh playoff team likely would go to a truly deserving team, but what about an eighth? 

NFL competition committee expects to present a resolution to owners based on a contingency of having a 16-team playoff season (8 in each conference) if games are lost due to the pandemic, especially as bye weeks disappear, according to league sources. Committee met by zoom today.

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) November 2, 2020

It goes without saying that this proposal - a COVID-19 playoff expansion - has a way to go. But with cases around the NFL rising, it must be considered, because the possibility does exist that a team might only play 15 games. 

As Mort further points out: 

"The contingency, if necessary, would take four division champions and four wild card teams from each AFC and NFC. Playoff seeds would be 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5."

Basically, this would allow another window for Washington to make the dance. 

As of today,  Philadelphia, Green Bay, New Orleans and Seattle would be the division winners, with Tampa Bay, Chicago, Arizona and the Rams as the four wild-card teams. 

Clearly, the WFT has a very outside chance based on the standings right now for the extra spot(s). But the standings now on Election Day are obviously subject to change between now and when the regular season is scheduled to end on January 3. And maybe the structure of the NFL playoffs is about to change, too.