Los Angeles Rams fans were certainly rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night. Seattle was a half-game behind the Rams entering last night’s contest, with a win pulling the Seahawks into a tie at 7-7.
Granted, the Rams have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle, but the more distance between L.A. and the Seahawks, the better – especially with Seattle’s schedule looking much more favorable than the Rams’.
However, there’s a scenario where the Seahawks’ win over Philadelphia actually ends up helping the Rams. Hear me out.
With the Eagles losing, they’re now a game behind the 49ers for the No. 1 seed. And because San Francisco already beat Philadelphia, the tiebreaker goes to the 49ers. In fact, the 49ers own the tiebreaker over the Cowboys (head-to-head) and Lions (conference record), too, which means they get the No. 1 seed in the event that they’re tied with any of the other three teams who still have a shot to at it.
According to the New York Times, the 49ers now have a 94% chance to secure the No. 1 seed. That may not seem relevant to the Rams, but it is. If San Francisco wins the next two games against the Ravens and Commanders, it will clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs.
The 49ers can even clinch it on Christmas night if they beat the Ravens and the Cowboys, Lions and Eagles all lose. Surely, San Francisco wouldn’t rest its starters in each of the last two games, but there’s a chance Kyle Shanahan will minimize the risk of injury in Week 18 by either resting all of his starters or limiting their snaps.
That would be great news for the Rams, who have to face the 49ers in the final week. It’s possible that game will be a win-and-you’re-in situation for the Rams, and beating San Francisco’s backups would be much easier than taking down Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel.
There’s no guarantee the 49ers will rest their starters in the finale, even if they clinch the No. 1 seed ahead of time. Giving their top players two weeks off before the divisional round would be risky, so they might treat it like a normal game regardless. And, they’d probably love to prevent the Rams – who bounced them from the playoffs two years ago – from making the postseason by beating them in the last week of the season.
If you believe the 49ers will rest their starters in the finale against the Rams, the Seahawks’ win over the Eagles actually makes Los Angeles’ path to the playoffs a bit easier. Obviously, this is all irrelevant if the Rams can’t beat the Saints or Giants, but it’s hard to imagine them losing both games.