Tag: rams playoffs

How many teams have made the playoffs after starting 1-4?

It’s not surprising that very few teams have gone on to make the playoffs after starting a season 1-4

The Los Angeles Rams dug themselves a hole early in the season by starting 0-2, losing a heartbreaker to the Detroit Lions and then a 41-10 blowout to the Arizona Cardinals. They got back on track by beating the San Francisco 49ers but after dropping their last two games, they’re now 1-4 entering their Week 6 bye.

Their playoff odds plummeted after their 0-2 start, with only 9.8% of teams making the postseason since 1970 after losing their first two games, and they’re in an even worse situation now.

Historically, very few teams go on to make the playoffs after starting 1-4, which is hardly a surprise. Going back to 1970, 253 teams have opened a season at 1-4. Only 15 of those ended up making the postseason, with the last team being Washington in 2020. That was the first year the playoffs expanded to 14 teams.

That means only 5.9% of teams have made the playoffs after such a terrible start, none since the schedule was lengthened to 17 games in 2021. Those are the long odds the Rams now face with 12 games remaining.

They did overcome a 3-6 start last season to make the playoffs and they nearly beat the Lions in the wild-card round, but this year’s team doesn’t seem as capable of making such a run with all the injuries it has suffered.

After their Week 6 bye, the Rams will face the Raiders, Vikings, Seahawks and Dolphins in their next four games. If they don’t go at least 3-1 in that stretch, their playoff hopes will be on life support.

Rams faced half the playoff field this season in what turned out to be a brutal schedule

The Rams’ schedule turned out to be incredibly difficult, facing 11 teams above .500 and 7 teams that made the playoffs

The Los Angeles Rams did not have an easy path to the playoffs. Their schedule didn’t look all that difficult at the beginning of the year, but now that the regular season is in the books, their 18-week slate was actually quite difficult.

Of the 13 teams in the playoff field besides the Rams, Los Angeles faced seven of them during the regular season: 49ers (twice), Eagles, Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Browns, Ravens. They also played against the Seahawks, Bengals, Colts and Saints, who all nearly made the playoffs and finished above .500.

The Rams may have gone 2-6 in those eight games against the playoff teams, but they finished the year 2-1 against them after starting 0-5. And their experience against teams that made the playoffs will serve them well in the postseason, making them more battle-tested against opponents like the Lions and potentially the 49ers.

Furthermore, the Rams only played four games this season against teams that finished below .500. The other 13 games were all against teams that had winning records, including the Seahawks, Bengals, Colts and Saints.

The Giants, Commanders and Cardinals were the only teams on the Rams’ schedule who didn’t finish above .500 and Los Angeles went a perfect 4-0 against them, so Sean McVay’s team handled its business against lesser opponents.

Based on the current draft order, the Rams had a strength of schedule of .529. Only six teams had tougher schedules than the Rams, showing just how tough the road was for Los Angeles this season.

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The Los Angeles Rams are headed to the NFC Championship game this weekend after knocking off the Buccaneers on the road.

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How Cardinals, Packers, Cowboys, Rams, Buccaneers can clinch playoff berths in Week 15

No AFC team can clinch a postseason berth in Week 15 thanks to the Colts, but here’s how five NFC teams can punch their tickets.

When the Colts surprised the Patriots 27-17 on Saturday night, they also prevented any other AFC team from clinching a playoff berth and/or a division title. Only the Pats and the Titans were up for postseason opportunities in their games, and both teams needed the Colts to lose.

So, out with that. 13 AFC teams are still in the hunt for postseason opportunities — only the Jaguars, Jets, and Texans are eliminated.

In the NFC, only the Lions are out of the picture — yes, even the 4-9 Bears and the 4-9 Giants could make it if all kinds of weird things happen.

But there are five NFC teams that can make the playoffs, and in some cases wrap up division titles in Week 15, and here’s how that can happen.

Rams share striking similarities to 2007 Giants team that won Super Bowl XLII

Are these similarities just coincidental? Or is it a sign of things to come for the Los Angeles Rams?

Expectations weren’t exactly high for the Los Angeles Rams when the season began. They weren’t even in the top half of the NFL in terms of preseason Super Bowl odds. Yet, here they are in the divisional round, getting ready to face the top team in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers.

Once again underdogs, the Rams are hardly expected to advance to the NFC Championship Game. But if they need an example of another underdog story that eventually led to a Super Bowl title, they only need to look back 13 years to the New York Giants.

Like the Rams, the 2007 Giants also went 10-6, were a wild-card team and had to face the top-seeded team in the NFC in the divisional round; New York faced the Cowboys that year. The Giants won three straight road games and made it to Super Bowl XLII, where they stunned the undefeated Patriots.

The Rams are still a long way from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, but they share similarities to that 2007 Giants team that shocked everyone and was the last team standing. Could this be a sign of destiny for Los Angeles? Or are these merely coincidental resemblances to the Eli Manning-led Giants from more than a decade ago?

Rams will face Packers in NFC divisional round on Saturday afternoon

The Rams will take on the Packers for the first time since the 2018 season.

After a day of waiting, the Los Angeles Rams finally know who they’re going to face in the divisional round of the playoffs next weekend. The Saints knocked off the Chicago Bears on Sunday, which means New Orleans will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the next round.

As for the Rams, they’ll travel to Green Bay for a matchup with the top-seeded Packers, who earned a first-round bye after going 13-3 in the regular season. The game will be played at 4:35 p.m. ET on Saturday.

This will be the Rams’ first game against the Packers since Oct. 28, 2018, a game they won 29-27 at the Coliseum. The forecast calls for frigid temperatures and wind, so the Rams will have to be prepared to play in difficult conditions.

The Packers boast the No. 1 scoring offense in the NFL this season, also ranking fifth in yards, first in giveaways and eighth in rushing. Aaron Rodgers led the league with 48 touchdown passes and five interceptions.

This will be the best defense Green Bay has faced, however. The Rams allowed the fewest yards and points in the league, as well as the fewest passing yards and touchdowns through the air.

For the Rams to beat Green Bay, they’ll need another outstanding performance from the defense and a solid effort from the offense, likely needing to score at least 30 points to beat the high-powered Packers.

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Bears-Saints will determine whether Rams face Packers or Bucs next week

Sunday’s final NFC wild-card game will determine where the Rams play their next game.

The Los Angeles Rams are heading to the divisional round of the playoffs after beating the Seahawks 30-20 on Saturday afternoon, but they don’t yet know who they’ll face next weekend. There are only two possibilities, though, and both games will be on the road no matter what.

They’ll face either the top-seeded Packers, who had a first-round bye, or they’ll visit Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, who beat Washington on Saturday night. And what will decide it is the outcome of Bears-Saints on Sunday afternoon.

The Saints will host the Bears at the Superdome today at 4:40 p.m. ET, a game the Rams and their fans will likely keep an eye on. Here are the two scenarios that will decide who Los Angeles faces next.

Saints win

  • Rams at Packers
  • Buccaneers at Saints

Bears win

  • Rams at Buccaneers
  • Bears at Packers

The NFL hasn’t announced when each game will be played, but it will be on either Saturday or Sunday once again. Four total games will be held in the divisional round after the wild-card round featured six matchups.

The Rams should be rooting for a Bears win over the Saints because they’d be much better suited to face the Bucs in sunny Tampa Bay, who they already beat this season, instead of taking on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in snowy Green Bay.

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6 takeaways from Rams’ playoff win over Seahawks on Saturday

Everything we learned from the Rams’ postseason win over the Seahawks.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t their best game of the season. But it was the Rams’ biggest win yet.

They went up to Seattle and knocked off the Seahawks with a 30-20 victory at Lumen Field, advancing to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. It was Sean McVay’s third career win as a head coach, moving the Rams one step closer to a conference title game and possibly a Super Bowl.

With so many injuries occurring throughout the afternoon, the Rams showed grit and toughness to overcome a number of hurdles en route to the win. They lost their starting quarterback, defensive tackle, left guard, outside linebacker and wide receiver at various points, but still went on to win by 10 points.

Here are six key takeaways from the Rams’ road win on Saturday.

Rams stomp Seahawks in wild-card round: Everything to know from LA’s win

The Rams took care of business in Seattle with a wild-card victory over the Seahawks.

The Los Angeles Rams had everything working against them on Saturday afternoon in Seattle. They lost their starting quarterback, John Wolford, in the first quarter to a neck injury. Jared Goff was forced to play 12 days after undergoing thumb surgery and was still not fully healthy – which showed throughout the game.

Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd and David Edwards all left the game at various times, too. Yet, the Rams were able to pull off the upset on the road against their division rivals, advancing to the divisional round of the playoffs.

The Rams knocked off Seattle 30-20 at Lumen Field, the fourth playoff victory of Sean McVay’s career. Here’s everything to know from Saturday’s victory by the Rams.

Rams’ recipe for success in playoffs comes down to four things

The Rams can have success in the postseason as long as they succeed in four key areas.

The Los Angeles Rams are about to embark on yet another postseason journey, their third in four years. The first ended in the wild-card round, while the second resulted in a Super Bowl appearance.

This year’s Rams don’t have the offense of the 2018 team, or even the first squad that went to the playoffs in 2017. But the defense is better than ever and as it’s often said, “defense wins championships.”

That’s harder to buy into in today’s pass-heavy, high-scoring game, but the Rams will try to ride their defense to another championship game. The defense can’t do it alone, though. The offense must pull its weight and keep the Rams in the game.

For the Rams as a whole, their recipe for success in the postseason is fairly simple, and it comes down to four things.