The NFL playoff race always gets a little crazy as time goes on, and things could get especially crazy for the Seattle Seahawks this weekend.
The Seahawks needed a win against the Chicago Bears on Thursday night to keep their playoff hopes alive, and while it was tough at times, Seattle came away with a 6-3 victory. With this win, the Seahawks will likely have a chance to win the NFC West in Week 18, but it’s not guaranteed, and that’s because the Rams could still win the NFC West this weekend in winning the tiebreaker STRENGTH OF VICTORY.
In what is by far the craziest playoff win scenario in Week 17, the Rams could win the division by potentially getting help from several AFC teams, including the Bills and Bengals.
For this crazy scenario to come into play, here’s what should happen first:
- The Seahawks beat the Bears on Thursday night (Seahawks won 6-3)
- The Rams beat the Cardinals on Saturday night
If those two things happen, the Rams would need to get at least 3.5 wins from the next six teams to clinch tiebreaker strength (to get 3.5 wins from the group below, the Rams would need three wins and a draw, but the most realistic scenario would be to obtain four victories):
That means if the Rams win Saturday night, the Seahawks will be closely watching several AFC GAMES on Sunday to see if they’ll still be alive in the playoff race heading into Week 18.
The crazy thing here is that not only are all six teams playing at home, but three of them – the Bills, Bengals and Commanders – are favored to win. The Browns and 49ers are both underdogs while the Packers-Vikings game has flipped several times this week in terms of who is favored.
The bottom line, though, is that if the Rams win Saturday night, they might have to wait until Monday night to find out if they’ve clinched the NFC West.
If they don’t win this week, it will set up a showdown in Los Angeles between the Seahawks and Rams in Week 18.
If you want to discover the 14 decisive scenarios in play around the NFL during week 17, you can do this here.
