What is the Rams' clearest path back to an NFC West title and No. 1 seed?

[GlendoraRam]

Here is the scenario for the Rams to win the West and get the No. 1 seed:
Rams: Beat Falcons and Cardinals (13-4)
Seahawks: Lose to Panthers and beat 49ers (13-4)
49ers: Beat Colts and Bears, lose to Seahawks (12-5)
Bears: Win/Lose vs. Packers, lose to 49ers, win/lose to Lions (12-5)

In other words:

Rams go 2-0 + Seahawks go 1-1 + 49ers go 2-1 + Bears go 2-1 = LA gets No. 1 seed

Because the 49ers will have lost to the Seahawks, and the Bears will have lost to the 49ers, neither of those teams will have won out to pull ahead of the Rams.

If the Rams finish 2-0, the Seahawks finish 1-1, and the 49ers and Bears both finish 2-1, no one can catch the Rams for the NFC West title or the No. 1 seed. It’s not likely, but it’s also nowhere near impossible.

The first step is to beat the Falcons and Cardinals, and then the Rams can start rooting for teams like the Panthers and Colts.

Source: Rams Wire

[malibu]

Seattle is not losing to Carolina we went up and down the field on them Darnold will as well. Seattle's defensive strength is their run defense which is Carolinas strength.

[SoCalRam78]

Seattle is not losing to Carolina we went up and down the field on them Darnold will as well. Seattle's defensive strength is their run defense which is Carolinas strength.

Okay Nostradamus. Go bet all your money on that since you can predict future. Seattle going on road to Carolina isn’t a layup game. Chi and SF all have challenging schedules too.

[therealheadslap75]

niners lose to bears and beat seahawks

seahawks 3-3 in division

rams 4-2

niners have worse record by 1 game

bears lose to packers or lions

am i missing something?

[Truth]

niners lose to bears and beat seahawks

I guarantee this won’t happen because if the 49ers lose to either the Colts/Bears they will rest their guys vs Seattle bc they’d have nothing to play for.

[Truth]

Seahawks: Lose to Panthers and beat 49ers (13-4)
49ers: Beat Colts and Bears, lose to Seahawks (12-5)

I don’t see any chance of that scenario happening bc if Seattle loses to the Panthers they’ll just rest their guys at San Francisco. They’d be done for the #1 seed knowing the Rams wouldn’t be losing to AZ.

[Truth]

I think the clearest part is:

Rams beat Atl/AZ.
Seattle must lose to Carolina
49ers must lose to Chicago.
Chicago must then lose to either GB/Det (at home).

If Bears win out, they’d have TB over the Rams for #1 seed based on better Conference record. But the Rams need the Bears to beat SF as it’s very unlikely Phillip Rivers and Indy beats them this weekend.

If SF wins both their games, then the Rams aren’t getting the #1 seed. Because either Seattle will beat Carolina and Rams will be automatically out, or Seattle loses to Carolina and thus rests vs the 49ers since they’d have no shot at anything with the Rams easily beating AZ.

[Commish]

Realistically, the Rams have at best around a 5% chance of successfully defending their NFC West title from last year.

They'll almost certainly enter the postseason as a 'wild card' team, if they can claim the NFC's fifth playoff seed they would have a decent shot at defeating the Buccaneers in Florida or (much less likely) the Panthers in North Carolina, obviously the Good Guys match up much better vs. the Buccaneers.

After that, though, our team would be taking on 'Old Man Winter' somewhere, quite possibly at a location where the Rams have already lost during the regular season, such as Washington (state) or Pennsylvania; other possible playoff locales would be in Illinois or Wisconsin, depending on what team ends up winning the NFC North title.

Given the weather issue, winning in the divisional round figures to be a daunting challenge for the Good Guys...

RAM SEASON!!

--The Commish

[SoCalRam78]

Don’t agree on rest. SF is a rival of Sea. They’re just going to hand them the 1 seed?

[DelMar]

Clearest way back to the 1 seed you ask?...

Fire Chase.

[Rampager66]

Seahawks: Lose to Panthers and beat 49ers (13-4)
49ers: Beat Colts and Bears, lose to Seahawks (12-5)

I don’t see any chance of that scenario happening bc if Seattle loses to the Panthers they’ll just rest their guys at San Francisco. They’d be done for the #1 seed knowing the Rams wouldn’t be losing to AZ.

They're not going to sit their guys if they lose to the Panthers and just let themselves drop further down the bracket or assume the Rams will win and surrender to SF. All 3 teams have more then enough on the line right til game 17 and so do the other teams jockeying for a playoff spot

[Rampager66]

Clearest way back to the 1 seed you ask?...

Fire Chase.

I miss Bobby April!

[Commish]

I don’t see any chance of that scenario happening bc if Seattle loses to the Panthers they’ll just rest their guys at San Francisco. They’d be done for the #1 seed knowing the Rams wouldn’t be losing to AZ.

They're not going to sit their guys if they lose to the Panthers and just let themselves drop further down the bracket or assume the Rams will win and surrender to SF. All 3 teams have more then enough on the line right til game 17 and so do the other teams jockeying for a playoff spot

There's perhaps a 10% chance that the Panthers could upset the Seahawks, so this scenario is quite far-fetched to start out with.

I do agree that if that were to happen while the Rams were defeating the Falcons, then the Seahawks would likely play all-out to win vs. the 49ers in their regular-season finale, hoping for the Cardinals to upset our team.

That's unlikely of course, however those types of long-shot, season-finale upsets do occur on occasion, wherein a noncontending team with nothing to gain (except pride) will upset a contender which desperately needs the victory. That's how the Good Guys ended up winning the NFC West title four years ago, after all.

However, in nine days' time I'm expecting the Seahawks to rout the Panthers by 20+ points...

RAM SEASON!!

--The Commish

[Rampager66]

There's perhaps a 10% chance that the Panthers could upset the Seahawks, so this scenario is quite far-fetched to start out with.

I do agree that if that were to happen while the Rams were defeating the Falcons, then the Seahawks would likely play all-out to win vs. the 49ers in their regular-season finale, hoping for the Cardinals to upset our team.

That's unlikely of course, however those types of long-shot, season-finale upsets do occur on occasion, wherein a noncontending team with nothing to gain (except pride) will upset a contender which desperately needs the victory. That's how the Good Guys ended up winning the NFC West title four years ago, after all.

However, in nine days' time I'm expecting the Seahawks to rout the Panthers by 20+ points...

RAM SEASON!!

--The Commish

I don't know Coach, I think they have a higher win Chance than 10%
The Panthers have home wins vs Miami, Dallas and the Rams and a road win @ GB and are tied for 1st in their division despite somehow losing twice to the lowly Aints. They should be 9-5 really... They are a tougher out then you think. Especially at home.
If they get in they'll earn it. They have 2 games with the Bucs and 1 with the Hags remaining

[Commish]

However, in nine days' time I'm expecting the Seahawks to rout the Panthers by 20+ points...

RAM SEASON!!

I don't know Coach, I think they have a higher win Chance than 10%
The Panthers have home wins vs Miami, Dallas and the Rams and a road win @ GB and are tied for 1st in their division despite somehow losing twice to the lowly Aints. They should be 9-5 really... They are a tougher out then you think. Especially at home.
If they get in they'll earn it. They have 2 games with the Bucs and 1 with the Hags remaining

Hoping for a 7-7 team to defeat a 12-3 one in a critical contest, even with the home field edge, that strikes me as pretty much 'wishful thinking.'

Of course, after last night's debacle up at Seattle, that's exactly what we Rams fans are reduced to, isn't it...??

RAM SEASON!!

--The Commish

[SoCalRam78]

the Rams play MNF, last game of week 17. They’ll know their fate. If sea wins next week and SF wins next two, Rams can’t win the NFCw. Any other scenario they’re still in it.

Hater report

this week:
Root for GB over Chi
Root for Detroit over Pit
Root for Indy over SF

Next week:
Root for Chicago over SF
Root for Detroit over Min
Root for Carolina over Sea (biggest game)

Rams won’t play again until these games are complete.