LANDOVER, Md. -- When Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera benched quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. in favor of Kyle Allen after Week 4, he did so with an eye toward the NFC East race. Even though the team was 1-3 at the time, Rivera spotted an opening as injuries for some teams in the division mounted and others weren't playing well.

"I'd be stupid not to give it a shot," Rivera said at the time.

Washington, of course, had to start winning. And other teams had to continue losing. All of which has happened.

Now Washington, which started 2-7 and switched to QB Alex Smith when Allen was hurt in Week 9, has a chance to clinch the NFC East before the season finale.

All four teams remain alive to win the division, but the path for Washington (6-8) remains the most direct. It can clinch if it beats the Carolina Panthers (4-10) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS) and if the Baltimore Ravens (9-5) beat the New York Giants (5-9). The Philadelphia Eagles (4-9-1) can win only six games, and Washington swept the Dallas Cowboys (5-9), so if both teams ended at 7-9, the Cowboys would be eliminated.

If Washington splits its final two games and New York wins its last two, the Giants would win the division because they beat Washington twice.

Sitting in position to clinch in Week 16 is not necessarily where Rivera or others thought the team would be at the start of the season. But, because no team in the division had a winning record after four games, Rivera altered his thought process.

"When we first started the season, I was thinking how we could grow this team, how we could develop, what it would take," he said. "As we started in the first few weeks, I could kind of see how it would play out."

He saw a six-game stretch against losing teams -- the Giants (twice), Cowboys (twice), Cincinnati Bengals (3-10-1) and Detroit Lions (5-9) -- and felt Washington could make a move.

Rivera also liked the possibilities because of Washington's youth. The defensive line, for example, has five first-round picks, four of whom are 25 years old or younger.

"We had some things that I thought were going pretty well," Rivera said. "Some of the development and understanding of what we were trying to do was coming along."

He felt that if Washington could go at least 3-3 during that stretch, it would have a chance. It did go 3-3, then defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-3) and San Francisco 49ers (5-9). But, Rivera said, it was the 41-16 win against Dallas on Thanksgiving that he felt helped Washington take a bigger step.

"With the energy the guys played with, that was exciting," he said. "The energy level has been outstanding. By that I mean their tempo, their enthusiasm, their willingness to do things. Those things all were really cool just to watch it develop and grow."

That growth has been evident in comeback wins against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and a late rally in Sunday's 20-15 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. They trailed 20-3 but drove inside the Seattle 30 with a chance to win the game late.

"That's how we're built," Washington tight end Logan Thomas said. "We're built with tough, strong and mentally tough guys."

Washington also is fortunate to be in the NFC East, as no other team has a chance to finish .500. That's why, even if his team clinches Sunday, Rivera said there's still much more work ahead. Washington will enter the offseason needing to bolster its offense, starting with solidifying the quarterback position.

"We still have a ways to go," Rivera said. "We really haven't started a game the way you would like to. We've finished games the way we would have like to. We gave ourselves a chance [Sunday]. We played hard. That's one of the things we talked about early on. If you do anything, play hard. Playing hard really just resonates with your teammates. It resonates with your fan base."

Regardless, Rivera said this season helped speed up the team's development. At 2-7, Washington was still in the hunt for the division title, which kept practices lively and players energized.

"We're going to continue to compete," he said. "That is going to help expedite our growth and development, and I think it's helped with the culture."