ESPN gives Los Angeles Rams less than eight percent chance to make playoffs in 2017

After going 4-12 last year, ESPN is giving the Los Angeles Rams extremely low odds to make the playoffs for the 2017 season.

With a new head coach in Sean McVay along with Jared Goff still having plenty to prove when it comes to being the answer running the offense, it’s easy to understand why the Los Angeles Rams seem like a long shot to make the playoffs this upcoming season. In fact, ESPN seems to think it would take some sort of miracle for the Rams for that to happen, at least according to their analytics from their latest Football Power Index rankings.

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From early Power Rankings to each team’s chances of winning the division, ESPN released some of their early projections for the 2017 season, and as expected, Los Angeles has a long way to go. Not only do the projections have the Rams winning just six games in 2017 with a four percent chance to win the division, but they give McVay’s squad a 7.9 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Sadly, it’s tough to disagree with these projections when looking at all of the struggles Los Angeles dealt with last season, including the offense finishing dead last in the NFL by only averaging 14 points per game. But on a positive note, at least the Rams seem like they can only go up from here, and have plenty of reasons to feel excited about what could be in store for McVay’s first year as head coach.

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Obviously, how far Los Angeles is capable of going in 2017 will fall heavily on the shoulders of Goff’s development process, but at least McVay’s history of developing quarterbacks, such as Kirk Cousins with the Washington Redskins, gives the Rams plenty of hope for the future. Fans may be upset to see such terrible odds, but hopefully the Rams can use this as motivation to help prove their doubters wrong in 2017.