How The St. Louis Rams Can Still Make The Playoffs

While the chance the St. Louis Rams make the 2014 NFL playoffs is slim to none they are in fact mathematically still in the race. For them to make the postseason, a lot has to go right, and we can only hope the stars are aligned. The Rams haven’t made the postseason since the 2004 and haven’t had a winning record since 2003, but here they are, in the hunt.

Current standings:

1. Cardinals – 10-3

2. Packers – 9-3

3. Eagles – 9-4

4. Falcons – 5-7

5. Seahawks – 9-4

6. Lions – 9-4

7. Cowboys – 9-4

8. 49ers – 7-6

9. Vikings – 6-7

10. Rams – 6-7

As it stands right now, the Rams are the tenth seed in the NFC and have a long way to go to get up to the six seed in only three weeks time. However, it isn’t impossible. This is the NFL after all, and crazier things have happened.

The NFL tie breaking procedures are as follows:

1. Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the two Wild-Card participants.

2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)

3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.

4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.

5. Strength of victory.

6. Strength of schedule.

7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.

8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.

9. Best net points in conference games.

10. Best net points in all games.

11. Best net touchdowns in all games.

12. Coin toss

What Needs To Happen:

First and foremost, for the Rams to make the postseason, they have to do their part and win games. They must win out, which means they will have to get wins against the Cardinals and Giants at home as well as get a tough win in Seattle on the road. While two of three and finishing 8-8 seems more realistic. For the Rams to make the postseason, they must win all three, and the way the Rams are playing, its not totally out of question.

For the Rams to make the playoffs, as mentioned above, they must win out, but unfortunately, they are not a team that controls their own destiny. They need help, and they need a lot of help for that matter. While the Rams don’t have the head to head tiebreaker over the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles as they lost close games to the two NFC East teams earlier this year(Thank you officials and Austin Pettis), If things work out right, the Rams can still win tiebreakers over the Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, and San Francisco 49ers.

For any of this to even be possible however, all three teams can have no more than nine wins, and as it stands right now, and as you can see above, the Lions and Seahawks already have nine wins which means those two teams must lose out while the 49ers can only win two of their next three.

Remaining Schedules

SEA: SF, @ARI, STL

DET: MIN, @CHI, @GB

SF: @SEA, SD, ARI

STL: ARI, NYG, @SEA

While the Rams already have wins over the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, the next tiebreakers that would come into play are record in division as well as record against conference opponents. As it stands right now the Rams have a 2-2 division record with two to play, as well as a 4-5 conference record with three to play.

If the Rams win out that would put their division record at 4-2 and their conference record at 7-5 . Meanwhile, if the Seahawks lose out their division record would fall to 2-4 automatically putting the Rams ahead of their division rival. On the other hand if the Detroit Lions lose out, their division record would fall to 3-3, also putting the Rams ahead and into the sixth seed. The Rams would also hold the same division record tiebreaker over San Francisco who currently have a 1-3 record in division.

As you can see, a lot has to happen for the Rams to get in. Winning out will be a feat in itself, but then the Rams must hope for unlikely wins by Minnesota and Chicago over the Lions as well as San Francisco and Arizona wins over Seattle.

While the Rams may not make the playoffs, finishing 8-8 or 9-7 would still be a pretty good season. The Rams haven’t finished .500 since 2006 and haven’t finished with a winning record since 2004. With either of those records, the Rams would also have improved off of last season’s 7-9 record, which would be pretty amazing as the Rams have played with a backup quarterback all season as well as dealt with injuries on both sides of the ball and having one of the league’s most difficult schedules.

The Rams may not make the playoffs for the 10th straight season, but they definitely look like a team on the rise, and one that can make a serious playoff push going into 2015.