Why are the Eagles and their fans wearing dog masks?

When the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Round, offensive tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Chris Long walked off Lincoln Financial Field wearing dog masks.

Eagles fans ate it up and bought dog masks en masse before the NFC Championship against the Minnesota Vikings. The team accommodated by announcing Monday that fans can wear the masks to the game as long as they take them off when they go through security.

Why dog masks? The Eagles became the first team ever to earn a No. 1 seed, but be a betting underdog in its first playoff game.

“We’ve been disrespected all year,” Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said earlier in January, via ESPN. “Our record can speak for itself. We’re a team that’s been disrespected week in and week out, and we just come out and ring the bell every week.”

And hence, Philadelphia has embraced the underdog role with dog masks.

Why are the Eagles underdogs? Cox says the team was disrespected all year, but that really has little to do with the team being written off in January.

In Week 14, Carson Wentz — who was putting together a legitimate MVP argument in 2017 — tore his ACL. His replacement, Nick Foles, just hasn’t led the team to many points.

The Eagles were shut out in Week 17, although Foles sat for most of the game. And the 15-10 win over the Falcons was mostly thanks to the Philadelphia defense.

Lack of faith in Foles is the reason the Eagles will be underdogs again when they host the Vikings. But the team is using it as fuel and you can expect to see dog masks throughout the Philadelphia crowd on Sunday.