A mountain of obstacles piled up on the Washington Redskins as the season went on, but somehow entering Week 16 there was a fairly clear path for the team to make the postseason.

As Jake Elliott nailed a 35-yard field goal for the Philadelphia Eagles with time expiring against the Houston Texans, the Redskins finally saw their playoff hopes come to an end.

The Dallas Cowboys (9-6) locked up the NFC East title and there is no possible way for the Redskins to make a Wild Card spot. The Seahawks (8-6), Vikings (8-6-1) and Eagles (8-7) are all guaranteed to finish ahead of them in the standings.

Philadelphia owns the tiebreaker over Washington due to the record in their division. Therefore any three-way tiebreakers in the NFC would eliminate the Redskins from consideration.

At 7-8 the Redskins will not make the postseason. For the third straight season, and eighth time out of the past 11, Washington will be watching January football from their couches.

There's still one game remaining on the schedule as the Redskins host the Eagles in Week 17. At this point, the only thing Washington has to play for is pride and to be a spoiler on the defending Super Bowl champions' playoff hopes.

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