How the Rams Can Retake the Number One Seed

The Rams will get to enjoy Christmas as they don't play the Falcons until the Monday after the Holiday, having over ten days without full contact football. While they do play in Atlanta, the Falcons have struggled this season, especially against teams outside their division. The Cardinals have been beaten down and have already mailed the season in. While no game is a guarantee, the Rams already blew out Arizona once and now they'll play them at home.

Seattle Seahawks

In order for the Rams to jump Seattle in both the standing for the conference and division, Seattle will need to lose one of their last two games. If Seattle loses both, the Rams automatically jump ahead, assuming they win out.

If Seattle loses one of those games, everything will come down to a tie breaker, likely being strength of victory. Strength of victory is the measure of how good the teams a franchise beat were, calculated by averaging the winning percentages of all teams the franchise has defeated in the season. Very similar to last season, where percentages decided the division before the season-finale.

Seattle plays on the road to end their season with trips to Carolina and San Francisco. Both of those teams are in hotly contested matchups. If the Seahawks lose to Carolina, the tiebreaker could come down to common games played, which appears to favor the Rams due to both teams having losses to the 49ers and to each other. If the Panthers beat Seattle, the only common game that has a differing result for both sides in Tampa Bay.

The Seahawks lost to Tampa while the Rams blew them out.

San Francisco 49ers

This is where things get ugly. If the 49ers win out, they'll win the division. They play at the Colts before hosting the Bears and Seahawks to wrap up the season. That means if they beat the Colts and then the Bears, with Seattle defeating Carolina, the Rams will enter the final week of the season with no shot to win the division or the number one seed.

However, if the 49ers lose to the Colts and then win out, with the Rams winning out as well, the Rams are the number one seed.

Chicago Bears

If the Rams win out and so does Chicago, the Bears own the tie breaker due to wins within the conference. The Bears play the Packers before traveling to the 49ers. They will then host the Lions in the season finale.

If the Bears lose one game, the tiebreaker will be strength of victory but if they lose two, the Rams would elevate themselves over Chicago.

The Ideal Scenario

The Rams win out. Seattle loses to Carolina and San Francisco. San Francisco loses to Indianapolis before defeating Chicago and Seattle. The Rams are the number one seed. While this is not the only scenario, it's the most direct...and it's probably the one least likely to be traveled.