Los Angeles Rams: What needs to happen to make the playoffs?

The Los Angeles Rams were thoroughly dismantled by the Baltimore Ravens last week and may have lost their playoff chances in the process.

The Los Angeles Rams didn’t just lose on Monday Night Football to the Baltimore Ravens, they were thoroughly beaten and embarrassed by the NFL’s hottest team. Not only was this a loss, it felt like the culmination of fans coming to grips that this team is not the same team from the last two years.

The offensive line is awful, Todd Gurley is not the same and Jared Goff is proving all of his critics correct as he has not taken that step to be a franchise quarterback. He does get some slack because of the offensive line, but a true franchise quarterback does not need a top-five O-line and the best running back in the league to be successful.

Those things help but Goff has not done anything to prove to us that he is worth even half of the contract that the Rams gave him.

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Despite all of this and despite the fact that the Rams have looked like a shell of themselves, they still are the seventh seed in the NFC with a 6-5 record and are not eliminated from playoff contention.

It would take a lot for the Rams to get into the playoffs, but we have seen crazier things happen. Personally, I do not think it will happen, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. So what needs to happen?

The first, and obvious answer is that the Los Angeles Rams have to, at the worst, finish the year with a 4-1 record. That would make them 10-6 on the season; 9-7 won’t get a playoff spot in the NFC and 11-5 is the way to go to potentially avoid having any tiebreakers come into play.

The reason why I think it is unlikely is the Rams’ remaining schedule. They play the Cardinals twice, the Seahawks, the Cowboys and the 49ers. The way they have been playing, it feels as if they will lose two of those games.

Even if they go 4-1 or 5-0 they are going to need some help as the two wild-card teams are currently 9-2 and 8-3.

The Minnesota Vikings are 8-3 as are the Green Bay Packers. The worst-case scenario for the Rams is that both teams fight for the NFC North to the end with one team finishing 13-3 and one team finishing 12-4, which will lock the Rams out of contention even if they win out.

The Vikings play the Seahawks, Lions, Chargers Packers and Bears. As crazy as it sounds, the Rams should be rooting for the Seahawks in this game. Having both wild-card teams (and potentially the Packers) at three losses crowds the pot and increases the chance that two of them finish with four or fewer losses.

Meanwhile, if the Seahawks beat the Vikings they will move to 10-2 and the Vikings will move to 8-4. If the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals, which they have to, they will be just one game behind the Vikings in the wild-card race.

From there, the Rams need to hope that the Vikings lose at least one more game. The best-case scenario would be against the Green Bay Packers, as it would solidify the NFC North for Green Bay and keep them from complicating the playoff picture.

Assuming they win the other three games, which in this case is the hardest-case scenario for the Rams, they will finish the year with an 11-5 record. If the Rams win out they will too be 11-5 and will have a 9-3 conference record opposed to the Vikings’ 8-4 conference record, giving the Rams an edge.

If the Rams lose a game then they will need either the Lions or Bears to beat the Vikings. If the Chargers beat the Vikings then they will finish 10-6 with the 8-4 conference record still intact.

This will lead to the tiebreaker going to common games, which there are four (Bears, Seahawks, Falcons, Cowboys). The Vikings play the Bears twice, the Rams play Seattle twice, and in this scenario, they will finish with a 3-2 record in those games.

If the Rams’ one loss is to the 49ers then their record in those games will be 4-1, giving them the edge over Minnesota. If they beat the 49ers and lose to Dallas or Seattle it will go to the strength of victory, which is the winning percentage of teams that both teams played.

That is harder to predict as there is a lot that can happen in five weeks. But as you can see, if the Vikings simply lose to the Bears or Lions instead of the Chargers then all of this wouldn’t need to happen.

The other possibility is the Seahawks just falling apart down the stretch and losing three of their last five, which is hard to see. However, they have three losable games against the Vikings, 49ers and Rams while also playing the Panthers and Cardinals.

If Seattle does lose to Minnesota, San Francisco and Los Angeles then they will finish the year with an 11-5 record and an 8-4 conference record. The Rams finishing 11-5 leads to the 9-3 conference record, which would trump the Seahawks.

As you can see though, it is a lot easier for the Vikings to lose the necessary number of games than the Seahawks. A 9-2 team finishing 2-3 is possible but does not happen often. Plus, with the Vikings, the Los Angeles Rams have some margin of error.

Either way, it is going to be an uphill battle for the Los Angeles Rams and the worst outcome this week would be the Vikings winning, as it would only complicate things further with three teams the sitting at three losses.