Another career day from Gurley in Week 16 helps Rams clinch NFC West title

Against high odds earlier in the year, the Los Angeles Rams are NFC West champions in 2017 after clinching in Week 16 with a win over the Tennessee Titans.

After only winning four games all of last season, expectations weren’t high for the Los Angeles Rams entering the 2017 season since most football fans expected them to go through at least a year or two of rebuilding following the hiring of Sean McVay. Instead, the Rams pulled the unthinkable this year by not only becoming a serious playoff contender, but winning the NFC West title over the Seattle Seahawks.

That’s right, Los Angeles has officially locked up the division title after hanging on for the 27-23 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, their first NFC West title since the 2003 season. For the most part, the Rams were expected to finish in third place when seeing all of the expectations surrounding the Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. But thanks to a strong bounce back season from Todd Gurley along with Jared Goff elevating his game to a whole new level, Los Angeles has become one of those teams that nobody is going to want to face come January.

Speaking of Gurley, what the running back was able to accomplish against the Titans was absolutely insane from a statistics standpoint, as the former Georgia star continues to build a strong case for the MVP award. One week after torching Seattle for 180 yards from the line of scrimmage to go along with four trips into the end zone, Gurley was unstoppable once again when facing Tennessee after leading the offense in rushing yards (118) and receiving yards (158) while adding two touchdowns to his season total.

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When looking at all of the concerns surrounding Gurley after failing to record a single 100-yard game a year ago, it’s been amazing to see the historical turnaround by the running back as a result of an improved offensive line along with a better system to play in under McVay. Now that the division title is officially locked up, the Rams are going to be one of the most difficult teams to face in the playoffs, and better yet, opponents trying to figure out a way to keep Gurley in check is going to be an absolute nightmare, although Los Angeles mind.