Tag: clinching

Clinching scenarios for Seahawks and Rams

Clinching scenarios for Seahawks and Rams

The Seattle Seahawks find themselves in a quite a pickle. One more, for a third straight season, the Seahawks need a little outside help to improve their chances at making the playoffs. At 8-7, Seattle no longer controls their own fate. The Los Angeles Rams are in the driver’s seat to clinch the NFC West, and could do so as early as Saturday.

Right now, the clinching scenarios are a little tricky, but what it boils down to is if the Rams can beat the Cardinals on Saturday, and earn a little extra strength of schedule wins, they will have the necessary tiebreakers over the Seahawks to win the NFC West.

The only thing the Seahawks can do to help themselves is to beat the Chicago Bears on Thursday. It won’t be enough to get them to the division crown, but a loss and a Rams win will be sufficient to eliminate them entirely. The Bears have been dreadful all season long, but as we are continuously reminded by the Week 5 debacle against the New York Giants, there are no “gimme” wins in the NFL.

Seattle must find a way to defeat a Chicago team playing for nothing but whatever shred of pride they have left.

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Packers need only 2 results to clinch NFC’s No. 1 seed in Week 17

The Packers would go into the season’s final week with the No. 1 seed in the NFC wrapped up if Matt LaFleur’s team beats the Vikings and the Cowboys lose to the Cardinals.

The Green Bay Packers have an opportunity to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC during Week 17.

Matt LaFleur’s team needs just two results: a win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night and a loss by the Dallas Cowboys to the Arizona Cardinals earlier Sunday.

The Packers (12-3) host the Vikings at Lambeau Field at 7:20 p.m. on Sunday. By kickoff, the team should know if clinching the No. 1 seed is a possibility.

The Cowboys, now 11-4, are hosting the 10-5 Cardinals at AT&T Stadium at 3:25 p.m. CT.

Even if the Cowboys win on Sunday, the Packers can clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC with wins over the Vikings and Detroit Lions to finish the season. Finishing at 14-3 guarantees the Packers of the best record in the NFC and avoids any tiebreaker scenarios.

Overall, any combination of Packers wins and Cowboys losses adding up two clinches the top seed for the Packers.

In any tiebreaker scenario with the Cowboys, Dallas would win due to a better conference record. However, the Packers own a head-to-head tiebreaker over the 11-4 Los Angeles Rams and the conference record tiebreaker over the 11-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

One other note: the Packers can officially eliminate the Vikings from playoff contention with a win over Mike Zimmer’s team and a win by either the Philadelphia Eagles (at Washington) or the Atlanta Falcons (at Buffalo Bills).

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Packers among 3 NFC teams with playoff-clinching scenarios in Week 14

The Packers, Cardinals and Buccaneers all have playoff-clinching scenarios in Week 14 of the 2021 season.

The Green Bay Packers and two other NFC teams have playoff-clinching scenarios in Week 14.

The Packers can clinch the NFC North title for the third consecutive season with a win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday night AND a Minnesota Vikings loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. The Packers can also clinch a playoff berth with a win or a Vikings loss.

The Arizona Cardinals, currently the No. 1 seed in the NFC, can clinch a playoff spot with nothing more than a win over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who sit in the third spot in the NFC behind the Packers and Cardinals, can clinch the NFC South with a win over the Buffalo Bills AND losses by both the Carolina Panthers (vs. Atlanta Falcons) and New Orleans Saints (at New York Jets).

All three teams clinching a playoff spot is just a matter of time. The chances of the Packers making the playoffs, for instance, are at over 99 percent at the New York Times playoff predictor.

The real race is for the No. 1 seed. If the Packers beat the Bears, the Rams beat the Cardinals and the Bills beat the Buccaneers this week, Green Bay’s chances of getting the top seed would improve to over 50 percent.

Current NFC playoff standings

1. Arizona Cardinals (10-2)
2. Green Bay Packers (9-3)
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-3)
4. Dallas Cowboys (8-4)
5. Los Angeles Rams (8-4)
6. Washington Football Team (6-6)
7. San Francisco 49ers (6-6)

In the hunt: Philadelphia Eagles (6-7), Minnesota Vikings (5-7), Carolina Panthers (5-7), Atlanta Falcons (5-7), New Orleans Saints (5-7)