The NFL playoff race always gets a little crazy down the stretch, and things could get especially crazy for the Seattle Seahawks this weekend.
The Seahawks needed a win over the Chicago Bears on Thursday night to keep their playoff hopes alive, and although it was a struggle at times, Seattle came away with a 6-3 victory. Thanks to the win, the Seahawks will likely have a chance to clinch 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 by clinching the STRENGTH OF VICTORY tiebreaker.
In what is easily the craziest playoff-clinching scenario of Week 17, the Rams could win the division by potentially getting some help from multiple AFC teams, including the Bills and Bengals.
For this crazy scenario to come into play, here’s what would have to happen first:
- Seahawks beat Bears on Thursday night (Seahawks won 6-3)
- Rams beat Cardinals on Saturday night
If both those things happen, the Rams would need to get at least 3.5 wins from the following six teams to clinch the strength of victory tiebreaker (To get 3.5 wins from the group below, the Rams would need three wins and one tie, but the most realistic scenario would be to get four wins):
This means that if the Rams win on Saturday night, the Seahawks will be closely watching several AFC GAMES on Sunday to find out if they’re still going to 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 — Bills, Bengals and Commanders — are favored to win. The Browns and 49ers are both underdogs while the Packers-Vikings game has flipped a couple of times this week when it comes to who’s favored.
The bottom line, though, is that if the Rams win on Saturday night, they could have to wait until Monday night to find out if they’ve clinched the NFC West.
If they don’t clinch this week, it will set up a showdown in Los Angeles between the Seahawks and Rams in Week 18.
If you want to check out all 14 clinching scenarios that are in play around the NFL during Week 17, you can do that here.
