Los Angeles Rams will have to wait until Week 13 for another chance to clinch NFC West

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 11: Running back Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams scores a touchdown in front of defensive end Dion Jordan #95 of the Seattle Seahawks to take a 17-14 lead in the second quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 11, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 11: Running back Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams scores a touchdown in front of defensive end Dion Jordan #95 of the Seattle Seahawks to take a 17-14 lead in the second quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 11, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Despite having the chance to clinch the NFC West on Sunday with a loss by the Seattle Seahawks, it looks like the Los Angeles Rams will have to wait at least one more week.

Sitting with a 10-1 record, the Los Angeles Rams seem confident enough in it only being a matter of time before they officially clinch the NFC West title for a second year in a row.

Despite five games remaining in the regular season, the Rams will enter Week 13 with a comfortable four-game lead over the Seattle Seahawks, which is why Sean McVay‘s team should feel confident in clinching sooner rather than later.

Speaking of Seattle, Los Angeles was hoping to receive some help from their division rivals during their bye week, which is a sentence Rams fans don’t often say.

Despite not playing this weekend, Los Angeles was in a position where they could officially clinch the division with a Seattle loss to the Carolina Panthers, which unfortunately didn’t happen.

One would think the Panthers would have came through with the win during a game in which Christian McCaffrey finished with 237 yards from scrimmage with two touchdowns, but it was the Seahawks who ended up with the last laugh.

Thanks to Russell Wilson leading the way for Seattle by scoring 10 points in the final minutes of the game, it was the Seahawks that earned the hard fought 30-27 win over the Panthers.

As a result, this means the Rams will have to wait at least one more week for another attempt to clinch the division title, which isn’t exactly the worst thing in the world.

If it wasn’t for Los Angeles having such a comfortable lead following their bye week, there would be more reason for McVay and company to worry about the chances of Seattle catching up to them in the division race.

Since the Rams basically have the NFC West locked up, waiting an extra week (hopefully) isn’t going to hurt them one bit, especially with a favorable matchup on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

Once Los Angeles gets the division race taken care of, the next task on their list will be to make sure they earn a first-round bye in the playoffs, which luckily seems likely to happen.

Unless things take a turn for the worse in Los Angeles over the next couple of weeks, the Rams should be able to at least learn the No. 2 seed in the NFC since they currently have a two-game lead over the Chicago Bears, who sit on top of the NFC North at 8-3.

Earning the top seed in the NFC won’t be easy when seeing how the New Orleans Saints seem to be playing on a completely different level then the rest of the NFL. But once the Rams officially lock up the division, whether it’s in Week 13 or later on, they’ll do whatever is necessary to try to take down the Saints for that No. 1 spot.

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