Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks’ main focus will be beating the San Francisco 49ers in Week 18 to secure the NFC West and therefore the top seed. After the Seahawks and 49ers both won on Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams were eliminated from division and top seed contention, which is astonishing given they were 30-14 up on the Seahawks with eight minutes left in regulation less than two weeks ago. Life comes at you fast, I suppose.
And yet, there is still reason to pay attention to the Rams’ Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons.
1. Seattle Seahawks (13-3) – Clinched playoff spot 2. Chicago Bears (11-5) – Clinched NFC North
3. Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) – Clinched NFC East
4. Carolina Panthers (8-8)
5. San Francisco 49ers (12-4) – Clinched playoff spot
6. Los Angeles Rams (11-4) – Clinched playoff spot
7. Green Bay Packers (9-6-1) – Clinched playoff spot
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-9)
We still don’t know how Sean McVay will approach Week 18 against the Arizona Cardinals, but it appears as if he’ll try to win with his healthy starters against the Falcons. A win over Atlanta would put the Rams at 12-4, and as long as they win out, they’ll be guaranteed the No. 5 seed. The loser of Seahawks vs. 49ers would become the No. 6 seed and play either the Eagles or Bears. The Rams would have a date to Charlotte or Tampa to play the Panthers or Buccaneers.
A Rams loss to the Falcons locks them into the No. 6 seed, thus the loser of Seahawks-49ers would play the NFC South winner the following weekend.
It’s also worth noting that under this 14-team playoff format, it is possible for the No. 5 seed to host a Divisional Round matchup, albeit through the freak combination of all three wild card teams winning on the road. That may not sound all that far-fetched this year given the strength of the NFC West and the expectation that the Packers will get Jordan Love back for the postseason, so there might actually be more value than realized when it comes to being the top wild card.
The first-round bye through winning the No. 1 seed is obviously highly coveted, but I’d say there’s a big difference between playing the NFC South winner and one of Chicago or Philadelphia. And whichever team is the 5-seed could potentially avoid playing the top seed in the Divisional Round as long as the 6- or 7-seed wins their wild card game, which is hardly inconceivable.
There may yet be playoff seeding reasons to pull for the Falcons aside from the natural want of a Rams defeat and to make that first-round pick Atlanta gave them a little bit worse.
