On the flight home from Los Angeles, the Eagles celebrated their NFC East-clinching win over the Rams. Players danced and posted pictures and videos on social media. Eagles employees reveled in the team’s first division title in four years. Some coaches joined the party, but as the trip back to Philadelphia extended into its final hours, the cabin became subdued.
“Win the division, and you would have thought someone died on the plane ride home,” one Eagles staffer said later.
The Eagles’ brain trust gathered and braced for the inevitable — that Carson Wentz had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and would be done for the season.