LA Rams playoff odds plummet after a Week 5 loss to the Packers

The LA Rams have lost four of five games so far in 2024. As such, the hopes of a grand run of success to carry the team into postseason competition is diminishing. And depending on the sourse that you entrust with the calculation, even at 1-4, the results can be dramatically different.

And that is why it's time that we have this chat. Let's reset expectations for the LA Rams 2024 NFL season. After all, the hopes for this team preparing for the 2024 NFL season with a record of 0-0 were certainly brighter than the hopes for a 1-4 teams that is limping into the Week 6 BYE. But that is the reality of this team.

So let's break down the odds of this team finding success in 2024. Success in this case is the ability to earn a berth at season's end to participate in the 2025 NFL Playoffs. That seems rather attainable, after the team surged to the finish line last season. But the Rams are in a more difficult situation this season. The team, already at 1-4, simply does not have the leeway to lose any more games. That creates a bit of a straight and narrow path to any postseason opportunity.

The Rams do not hold an inside track on postseason competition.

FanSided's Luke Norris has an article that cites the Rams' playoff chances at 12 percent. That seems rather optimistic, so I tracked down his source. He used the NFLPlayoffs.com site, a site that combines a team's actual record and compares that to the team's future games scheduled in terms of strength of schedule.

So that method tries to blend the team's record with what the future may hold.

Another method you can use is based purely on the team's record and compares that to a population of teams that have historically succeeded with that record in the past. One such chart on Reddit uses data points from NFL teams who have competed from 1990 through 2013. For any team that has one win and four losses, that chart establishes the odds of a playoff appearance as falling to five percent.

Which method is more accurate? Both methods attempt to use an objective means to establish the odds of success for the team. But selecting which method to trust is a subjective process.

Ultimately, the chances of the Rams competing in the NFL Playoffs at the end of this season are pretty low. And that is enough to be a significant concern.

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