The Rams answered the bell on Sunday night in a pivotal matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. It wasn’t a game that necessarily favored the Rams, considering Seattle had won five in a row, but Los Angeles took care of its division rival and crushed the Seahawks 28-12.
With the victory, the Rams kept their postseason hopes alive. They’re still only one game back of the Vikings for the sixth wild-card spot with three weeks remaining, meaning they don’t necessarily need to win out in order to make the playoffs.
Depending on what Minnesota does, the Rams can go 2-1 and still sneak into the playoffs – which is the ultimate goal for the team right now. Here’s how the playoff picture looks after their win on Sunday night, with the only Week 14 game left being Giants-Eagles – which has no bearing on the Rams.
- NFC West: 49ers (11-2)
- NFC North: Packers (10-3)
- NFC South: Saints (10-3)
- NFC East: Cowboys (6-7)
- Wild card: Seahawks (10-3)
- Wild card: Vikings (9-4)
In the hunt
Rams (8-5)
Bears (7-6)
Eagles (5-7)
The Rams are one game behind the Vikings, but what’s important to note is the tiebreaker. According to ESPN’s playoff machine, Los Angeles owns the tiebreaker over the Vikings because of each team’s record in common games. That holds true if the Rams beat the Cowboys next Sunday and Minnesota loses to the Chargers.
Here’s each team’s remaining schedule
Rams: at DAL (6-7), at 49ers (11-2), vs. Cardinals (3-9-1)
Vikings: at LAC (5-8), vs. Packers (10-3), vs. Bears (7-6)
The Vikings technically have the tougher schedule the rest of the way with their opponents having a combined record of 22-17. The Rams’ opponents have a record of 20-18-1, so it’s not much of a difference.
The Rams are also on the road twice, whereas Minnesota will be at U.S. Bank Stadium twice in the final three weeks. It doesn’t make this deficit insurmountable by any means, but the Vikings are in the driver’s seat for now.