The NFL playoff race always gets a little crazy down the stretch, and things could get especially crazy in the NFC West this weekend.
The race for the division title is down to the Los Angeles Rams (10-6) and the Seattle Seahawks (9-7). Both teams won in Week 17 with the Seahawks topping the Chicago Bears, 6-3, on Thursday night while the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals, 13-9, on Saturday.
The fact that the Seahawks won means that they'll likely have a chance to clinch the NFC West when they face the Rams in Week 18, but it's not guaranteed, and that's because the Rams could still win the NFC West in Week 17 by clinching the STRENGTH OF VICTORY tiebreaker, which is the fifth tiebreaker used if two teams are tied at the top of their division.
In what is easily the craziest playoff-clinching scenario of the week, the Rams could win the division by potentially getting some help from a list of teams that includes the Cleveland Browns.
The Rams just need to get 0.5 win from the following two teams to clinch the strength of victory tiebreaker (To get 0.5 win from the group below, the Rams just need one win or a tie):
- Commanders (vs. Falcons)
- 49ers (vs. Lions)
The Rams actually needed four wins to claim the strength of victory tiebreaker this week, but they got three of those with the Bengals (over Broncos), Bills (over Jets) and Vikings (over Packers) all winning in Week 17.
If the Commanders don't win on Sunday night, then Seahawks and Rams might not know until Monday night whether their Week 18 showdown is going to mean anything. If the Rams do get a win from Washington, then they'll clinch the division and they'll be able to rest their starters in Week 18.
If the Commanders lose, the 49ers-Lions game will become even more interesting on Monday night. The Lions don't really have anything to play for, so a 49ers win wouldn't be completely out of the question.
Strength of victory is a rarely used tiebreaker that's only been utilized three times since 2010 and the Seahawks were actually on the losing end of one of those tiebreakers. Last season, they were tied with the Packers at 9-8 for the final playoff spot, but they lost out on the strength of victory tiebreaker. Losing out on the the SOV tiebreaker two years in a row when it's almost never used would definitely count as bad luck.
If you want to check out all the clinching scenarios that were in play around the NFL during Week 17, you can do that here.
