The Seattle Seahawks play the San Francisco 49ers in Week 18, and the winner of that game will be the top seed in the NFC and will take the NFC West title. The winner also receives a first-round bye, allowing them a week to rest and recover. It is important, of course, but the Los Angeles Rams just made it less so.
A week after losing to the Seahawks, the Rams traveled to Atlanta to face the Falcons and suffered a loss. In fact, LA was down 21-0 at halftime. Quarterback Matthew Stafford threw three interceptions. It was ugly. Sure, Los Angeles came back to make it close, but the damage was done.
LA fell to 11-5, two full games behind Seattle with one game left. That means something important for playoff seeding. Should the Seahawks lose to the 49ers on Saturday, Seattle won't get a bye week in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, but they still might be almost guaranteed to move on to the Divisional round.
Los Angeles Rams hand the Seattle Seahawks a favor in Week 17
That's because Seattle would be no worse than the No. 5 seed in the NFC. Should the Seahawks win in Week 18, they will have home-field advantage, which, of course, is most desirable, but being the No. 5 seed isn't too bad either. That seed travels in the Wild Card round to play the NFC South winner.
As all 12s just saw in Week 17, whether the winner of that division is the Carolina Panthers or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (a team that defeated Seattle in Week 5, but has been falling apart for most of the season since), the Seahawks are going to be heavily favored to win the game.
Any No. 5 seed would be. That includes the Rams, who would be the No. 5 seed should Seattle defeat San Francisco, as the 49ers would be the No. 6 seed. The No. 6 seed has to travel to play the Philadelphia Eagles, and playing in Philly in January is no fun. Seattle gets to avoid that, at least in the Wild Card round.
The hope is that quarterback Sam Darnold will play a clean game, where he is exceedingly productive against a diminished 49ers defense, and the Seattle Seahawks come back from Santa Clara with a win. Teams having to come to Lumen Field for as long as Seattle is in the playoffs (until the Super Bowl, of course) would be ideal.