Video game upgrade (Saturday night): The Rams won, so they just require a couple of more Week 17 wins from some assistants to clinch a playoff area.
Video game upgrade (Saturday afternoon): The Cincinnati Bengals’ thrilling overtime win over the Denver Broncos is among the 3.5 wins the Los Angeles Rams require to clinch the NFC West in Week 17, supplied they beat the Arizona Cardinals tonight.
Saturday’s NFL tripleheader wanes when the Arizona Cardinals handle the Los Angeles Rams in an NFC West face-off at SoFi Stadium.
While the Cardinals have actually currently been gotten rid of from playoff contention, the Rams can clinch the NFC West– and get rid of the Seattle Seahawks from the postseason– with a win over Arizona, and after that a great deal of assistance.
Let’s break everything down.
Going into Week 17, the Rams had 3 paths to clinching the NFC West title. The very first 2 needed the Seahawks to lose on Thursday night versus the Chicago Bears, however Seattle’s 6-3 triumph eliminated those 2 paths for Los Angeles.
They still have a method they can clinch the department, however it gets us deep into the tiebreakers.
If the Rams lose on Saturday night, the Week 18 video game in between Seattle and Los Angeles is for the department title.
If the Rams win, Seattle winning on Thursday night– and once again in Week 18– might not be sufficient to clinch the department title for the Seahawks. Why? A Seahawks Week 18 win in this circumstance would have both groups at 10-7. They would have divided the season series (the very first tiebreaker), they would have the very same department record (the 2nd tiebreaker), they would have the exact same records in typical video games (the 3rd tiebreaker), and the very same record in NFC video games (the 4th tiebreaker).
That would leave the 5th tiebreaker, the unusual “strength of triumph” tiebreaker.
At the minute, the Rams have the edge in that 5th tiebreaker, thanks to wins over the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings. They can clinch that 5th tiebreaker– and the department– if they get 3.5 wins from these groups over the rest of Week 17: The Vikings (versus the Green Bay Packers), the Bills (versus the New York Jets), the San Francisco 49ers (versus the Detroit Lions), the Washington Commanders (versus the Atlanta Falcons), the Cincinnati Bengals (versus the Denver Broncos) and the Cleveland Browns (versus the Miami Dolphins).
If a mix of 4 of those groups win, and the Rams win on Saturday night, Los Angeles has actually won the NFC West and the Seahawks are removed. A Rams loss, or a Rams win plus 3 or less of those groups winning above, and the Week 18 video game in between Seattle and Los Angeles is for the NFC West.
It is likewise worth keeping in mind that under tiebreaker treatments, a tie counts as a half-win.
