While the Cardinals will remain in the NFC West lead no matter what, Cardinals fans are Seahawks fans for one night as a Rams loss helps the Cardinals in the NFC West.
One of the two remaining Week 15 games to be played Tuesday is between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. It was rescheduled due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the Rams.
That game has big implications for the NFC West division race.
The Arizona Cardinals are in the lead at 10-4 but the Rams, currently 9-4, would tie the Cardinals’ record with a win.
So while Cardinals fans typically want the Seahawks to lose every week, tonight they like the Rams less, so they should root for the Seahawks.
What does a Seahawks win do?
The Cardinals have a magic number of four to win the division. A Seahawks win would reduce that magic number to two.
If the Rams win, the Cardinals will still hold the division lead. Both at 10-4 and having split their season series, the next tiebreaker is division record. The Cardinals are 4-1 and the Rams would be 3-2. That would maintain the Cardinals’ lead in the division, if only temporarily.
The Cardinals play the red-hot Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, while the Rams will have a short turnaround and travel to face the Minnesota Vikings.
So for one brief time this evening, Cardinals fans are Seahawks fans, and it is okay to be one, but just for tonight. It is a case where the enemy (Seahawks) of my enemy (Rams) is my friend.
The Packers remain the No. 1 seed in the NFC and clinched their division. The Buccaneers and Cardinals fell to no. 3 and No. 4 with their losses.
There are still games to be played in Week 15 because of COVID rescheduling, but the top four teams in the NFC already played and the NFC conference standings have seen some changes.
Here are the standings in the NFC after Sunday’s games.
Green Bay Packers, 11-3 (clinch playoffs and division title)
Dallas Cowboys, 10-4
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-4
Arizona Cardinals, 10-4
Los Angeles Rams, 9-4 (they play Tuesday night)
San Francisco 49ers, 8-6
New Orleans Saints, 7-7
The No. 7 seed could still change with games to be played Monday and Tuesday. The Washington Football Team, Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings are all 6-7. Minnesota plays Monday night, while Washington and Philly face each other Tuesday.
What happened in Week 15
Two of the top three seeds in the conference entering the week lost and another nearly lost.
The Packers squeaked by the Baltimore Ravens 31-30 on a failed two-point attempt at the end of the game.
The Buccaneers were shut out 9-0 by the Saints.
The Cardinals were embarrassed by the previously one-win Lions 30-12.
The Cowboys rolled by the New York Giants, beating them 21-6.
The Rams will play the Seahawks Tuesday. Even if they win, they will still be the No. 5 seed. If they lose, they will not fall in the standings.
The 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons 31-13.
What’s coming up in Week 16
The Packers are at home against the Cleveland Browns.
The Cowboys host Washington in the Sunday night game.
The Buccaneers are on the road to face the 5-9 Panthers.
The Cardinals host the 8-6 Indianapolis Colts on Christmas night.
The Rams play the Vikings on the road.
The 49ers face the 9-5 Tennessee Titans on the road.
The Saints host the red-hot Miami Dolphins on Monday night.
The Cardinals have nine possible ways to clinch their first postseason berth since 2015 in Week 15, but the easiest one is to just beat the one-win Lions.
The Arizona Cardinals only needed a win over the Los Angeles Rams to clinch their first playoff berth since the 2015 season. They lost that game and the other unlikely scenarios did not happen, so their ticket to the playoff remains unpunched.
Entering Week 15, the same thing applies — win and you’re in, as the saying goes.
There are nine scenarios in which the Cardinals can earn a playoff berth. The one that really matters most is beating the 1-11-1 Detroit Lions. If they beat the Lions, they make the playoffs.
If they don’t, there are eight other possible scenarios for the Cardinals to make the playoffs without beating the Lions.
They will clinch a playoff berth if they beat the Lions or if any of the following happens:
The Saints lose to or tie with the Buccaneers and the Vikings lose to or tie with the Bears. (plausible)
A Saints loss or tie and a tie between Washington and the Eagles. (unlikely)
The Saints lose to or tie with the Bucs, the Eagles lose to Washington, the Falcons lose to or tie with the 49ers and the Packer beat or tie with the Ravens. (possible, I suppose)
The Saints lose to or tie with the Bucs, the 49ers and Falcons tie and the Rams lose to the Seahawks. (unlikely)
The Vikings lose to or tie with the Bears and Eagles-Washington is a tie. (unlikely)
The Vikings lose to or tie with the Bears and the 49ers lose to the Falcons. (possible)
The 49ers lose to the Falcons and Eagles-Washington is a tie. (unlikely)
The 49ers tie with the Falcons, the Rams lose to the Seahawks and Eagles tie with Washington. (super unlikely because of two ties)
In other words, the Cardinals just need to beat the Lions. After all, the Lions are 1-11-1 and the Cardinals are 10-3. Losing to them would be embarrassing.
Despite the loss to the Rams, the Cardinals still control the NFC West. We look at the many ways they can clinch the division.
The Arizona Cardinals missed an opportunity to clinch a postseason berth Monday night and they could have basically wrapped up the NFC West if they had beaten the Los Angeles Rams. However, the Rams beat Arizona 30-23 and pulled within one game of the Cardinals.
Arizona’s magic number to clinch the division is still four with four games remaining.
Any combination of Cardinals wins and Rams losses leading to four will give the Cardinals the division title.
These are their remaining schedules:
Cardinals
Week 15 on the road against the Detroit Lions
Week 16 at home on Christmas Day against the Indianapolis Colts
Week 17 on the road against the Dallas Cowboys
Week 18 at home against the Seattle Seahawks
Rams
Week 15 at home against the Seahawks
Week 16 on the road against the Minnesota Vikings
Week 17 on the road against the Baltimore Ravens
Week 18 at home against the San Francisco 49ers
However, the Cardinals can also reduce their magic number by an additional one because of tiebreakers.
The Cardinals and Rams tied their season series, so the next tiebreaker is division record.
The Cardinals are 4-1 in the NFC West and the Rams are now 2-2. A win by the Cardinals over the Seahawks in Week 18 or a loss by the Rams to either the Seahawks in Week 15 or the 49ers in Week 18 will take an extra game off the magic number. So if the Rams lose next weekend, even if the Cardinals were to lose to the Lions, their magic number would drop to two because of the Rams’ loss and clinching the division tiebreaker.
If the Cardinals lose to the Seahawks in Week 18 and the Rams beat both the Seahawks and 49ers, then the Cardinals would need to look to the next tiebreaker — common opponents.
The Cardinals will have 12 games against common opponents — four against the Seahawks and 49ers, four against the teams in the NFC North and four against the teams in the AFC South. Thus far, the Cardinals are 8-1 in those games and the Rams are 6-3 with three games remaining. The Cardinals have the Lions, Colts and Seahawks, while the Rams have the 49ers, Seahawks and Vikings.
The Seahawks and 49ers games don’t matter because if the Cardinals win or the Rams lose, the common opponent tiebreaker doesn’t come into play.
But if the Cardinals beat the Lions and Colts, or if the Rams lose to the Vikings and the Cardinals beat either the Lions or the Colts, then the Cardinals’ magic number will be reduced by one more because they will have clinched the common opponent record.
So the formula works like this for clinching:
The magic number reduces by one for each Cardinals win or Rams loss.
The magic number will be reduced by one additional if:
The Cardinals beat the Seahawks
The Rams lose to the Seahawks or 49ers
The Cardinals beat both the Lions and Colts
The Rams lose to the Vikings and the Cardinals beat either the Lions or Colts
The bottom line is the Cardinals still control the division. They just made things more difficult with the loss to the Rams. They have four games to get it to zero.
A look at the NFC West and the division race with four games remaining in the regular season.
The NFC West is getting a little more interesting. The Arizona Cardinals still sit atop the division and are in the driver’s seat but everyone else below them closed the gap by a game. The Cardinals lost their Week 14 game and the rest of the division won.
Here is what the division standings look like entering Week 15:
Arizona Cardinals, 10-3
Los Angeles Rams, 9-4
San Francisco 49ers, 7-6
Seattle Seahawks, 5-8
Let’s look at what happened for each team and what is coming up this week.
The Cardinals, Packers and Buccaneers are all now 10-3 and vying for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
The Arizona Cardinals lost control of the NFC with their loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night in Week 14. With their loss, there are now three teams in the NFC with a 10-3 record but the Green Bay Packers are now at the top.
After 14 weeks, here is what the NFC playoff picture now looks like.
Green Bay Packers 10-3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10-3
Arizona Cardinals 10-3
Dallas Cowboys 9-4
Los Angeles Rams 9-4
San Francisco 49ers 7-6
Washington Football Team 6-7
The Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints are all also 6-7.
The Packers are 8-2 in the conference while the Bucs and Cardinals are 6-3 in NFC games. The Packers also hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over Arizona.
If the season ended today, the Cardinals would host the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card round, playing them for the third time this season.
What happened in Week 14
The Packers beat the Bears 45-30
The Buccaneers needed overtime to beat the Bills 33-27
The Cardinals lost at home on Monday night to the Rams 30-23.
The Cowboys beat Washington 27-20
The 49ers outlasted the Bengals in overtime 26-23
The Vikings beat the Steelers, the Saints beat the Jets, the Falcons beat the Panthers and the Eagles were idle.
Coming up in Week 15
The Packers face the 8-5 Ravens on the road, but they might not face Lamar Jackson, who injured his ankle in their game on Sunday.
The Bucs host the Saints on Sunday night.
The Cardinals face the one-win Lions on the road.
The Rams host the Seahawks.
The Cowboys face the 4-8 Giants on the road.
The 49ers host the Falcons.
Washington is on the road against the Eagles.
The Vikings are on the road against the Bears Monday night.
The Packers, Buccaneers and Cowboys all won in Week 14, meaning the Cardinals must beat the Rams Monday night to stay as the No. 1 seed.
The Arizona Cardinals will face the Los Angeles Rams Monday night with a chance to maintain their lead in the NFC West and their status as No. 1 seed in the NFC. They will clinch a playoff spot with a win.
However, they did not get any help from the teams chasing them.
The Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 45-30. At 10-3, if the Cardinals lose to the Rams, the Packers will overtake them as the No. 1 seed.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also improved to 10-3 with a 33-27 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills.
A Cardinals loss tonight would mean the NFC has three 10-3 teams.
A win keeps them a game ahead of both teams.
Even the Dallas Cowboys won, beating Washington 27-20 and improving to 9-4.
None of it matters this week if the Cardinals beat the Rams, but it sure would be nice if they could get some help in the final weeks.
Cardinals fans have to wait until Monday night to watch their team. They can pay attention to these Week 14 games that have NFC playoff implications.
The Arizona Cardinals do not play in Week 14 until Monday night but there are plenty of games on the schedule that matter in the NFC playoff race. The Cardinals remain the No. 1 seed.
Their own game against the Los Angeles Rams has playoff implications, but which Sunday games should be of interest for Cardinals fans, either because the games impact the playoff race or because they affect the Cardinals?
Only three teams remain with a shot at the NFC West division title after Week 13. The Cardinals hold a two-game lead over the Rams and the Seahawks were eliminated.
There are five games and five weeks remaining in the regular season and the NFC West is still very much up for grabs, although one team has been eliminated from contention for the division title.
The Arizona Cardinals won for the 10th time this season and remain in the division lead.
Here are the current division standings entering Week 14.
Arizona Cardinals 10-2
Los Angeles Rams 8-4
San Francisco 49ers 6-6
Seattle Seahawks 4-8
The Cardinals maintain a two-game lead over the Rams, while the Seahawks are no longer in contention for the division title. The best they can do is 9-8 if they win all their remaining games, while the Cardinals already have 10.
Let’s take a look at what happened for each team last weekend and what is coming up in Week 14.
A look at the NFC playoff picture as we enter Week 13. The Cardinals remain atop the conference but hold a half-game lead over the Packers.
All but one game of the Week 12 schedule have been played and we know what the NFC playoff picture looks like. The Monday night game between the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Football Team has minimal impact on the NFC playoff race.
The Arizona Cardinals remain atop the conference and the Packers got a little closer.
Here is the playoff picture in the NFC at the start of Week 13.
Arizona Cardinals 9-2
Green Bay Packers 9-3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8-3
Dallas Cowboys 7-4
Los Angeles Rams 7-4
San Francisco 49ers 6-5
Minnesota Vikings 5-6
The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints are both 5-6 and clearly in the mix still. Washington is 4-6 and, with a win over Seattle Monday night, will also have the same record as the Vikings.
What happened in Week 12?
The Cardinals did not play. They had their bye week.
The Packers defeated the Rams 36-28.
The Bucs won for the second straight week, defeating the Colts 38-31.
The Cowboys lost on Thanksgiving 36-33 in overtime to the Raiders.
The Rams lost their third game in a row in the 36-28 defeat to the Packers.
The 49ers beat the Vikings 34-26.
The Saints were blown out 31-6 by the Bills on Thanksgiving night, while the Falcons beat the Jaguars 21-14.
Coming up in Week 13
The Cardinals are on the road against the 4-7 Bears and could have Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins back in the lineup.
The Packers will have their bye.
The Bucs will travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons.
The Cowboys play the Saints Thursday night on the road.
The Rams return home to face the 2-9 Jaguars.
The 49ers have a divisional battle on the road against the 3-7 Seahawks, who play Monday night in Week 12.
The Vikings are on the road to face the winless Lions.
