Is the 2020 NFC East the worst division ever?

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What a difference a win makes. Not only did the Eagles’ 25-20 win over the 49ers breathe life into the team’s otherwise dreadful season to this point, but it vaulted it to the top of the NFC East with a 1-2-1 record.

Let that sink in for a second.

We thought last year was rough for the division — the Eagles winning with a 9-7 record and the four teams lugging a combined record of 24-40 — the 2020 NFC East makes last year sparkle by comparison.

The NFC East currently has a combined record of 3-12-1 (a .219 winning percentage). Its aggregate point differential is minus-125. You have to figure this record will improve, simply because of the fact that the only division game played so far is Washington’s Week 1 win over the Eagles.

And somebody has to win those division games, don’t they?

The worst record for a team that won their division in NFL history is the 2010 Seattle Seahawks, who finished 7-9. They beat the 7-8 Rams in the final regular-season game to take the NFC West, and actually went on to upset the New Orleans Saints in the legendary “BeastQuake” game. The 2010 NFC West, despite having no team with even a .500 record, actually had a better combined record than the 2019 NFC East (25-39).

Since the NFL expanded to eight four-team divisions, the division with the worst combined record for a season was the 2008 NFC West, with a 22-42 record (.344). The Arizona Cardinals were the “class” of that division at 9-7, but they swept their division games, meaning they went 3-7 against the balance of their schedule, including four losses by at least 21 points. Somehow, they made it all the way to the Super Bowl, beating the Eagles in a memorable NFC Championship game, 32-25.

Will the winner of the NFC East this year even get to seven wins? Will this division finish the season as the worst in NFL history? It has a long way to go to stay out of the record books.

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