The Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks will compete on Thursday Night Football in Week 16 with both teams sitting at 11-3. Winning this game means getting an advantage in the race for both the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the NFC West.
However, a Rams loss would open the door for a third team in that picture. For any F1 fans, there is the famous call by Martin Brundle, “Leclerc has the inside line. Perez goes off the track, cuts the chicane. Off goes Leclerc. Through goes Hamilton!”
That’s the scenario playing out in Week 16 where one wrong move creating an opening for a third team to steal the lead. The Rams and Seahawks are Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez battling for first and second with the San Francisco 49ers playing the role of Lewis Hamilton hanging in the background, looking for an opening while the other two battle it out. With that opening, there might just be enough space to get around both teams.
That’s the exact scenario in play on Thursday Night Football. With a Rams loss, the 49ers are given life for the NFC West and No. 1 seed. A Rams loss and 49ers win in Week 16 would move Los Angeles from first to third in the NFC West and down to the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff picture. Assuming the Seahawks and 49ers enter Week 18 within a game of each other, their matchup in the season finale would be for the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed.
The 2025 version of the NFC West has been one of the best divisions in NFL history. These Rams and Seahawks teams aren’t just two of the best teams in the NFL currently, they are two of the best teams ever. According to DVOA, the Rams and Seahawks are the fifth and sixth best teams of all time with only 0.2 percent separating them.
This is only the second time in the DVOA era that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams have faced off in the same season. The last time that happened was 2008 with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. This is also just the third time in NFL history three teams have had at least 10 wins after Week 15. The other two times were the 2024 NFC North and the 1975 AFC Central.
The 49ers have been the pain in everyone’s side this season. While they survived a stretch with Mac Jones, they’ve also played a very easy schedule. That’s kept them alive with three games to go and a Rams loss would give them life. They do play the Chicago Bears next week, but that game is also at Levi’s Stadium.
If the Rams do lose on Thursday Night Football, things get much more complicated for them. They don’t have the tiebreaker over the 49ers or the Bears. The only team that the Rams can tie with is the Seahawks. With a loss on Thursday, the Rams would need the Bears to lose at least one of their final three games against the Packers, 49ers, and Lions. Additionally, the Rams would need the Seahawks to lose to either the Panthers or 49ers as well as the 49ers to lose one of their final three games to the Colts, Bears, or Seahawks.
The easiest scenario to follow would be for the Bears to beat the 49ers next week, the Panthers or 49ers to beat the Seahawks, and then for the Bears to lose one of their final division games against the Packers or Lions. That would win the Rams the NFC West and earn them the No. 1 seed, assuming they win out against the Falcons and Cardinals.
At the end of the day, the Rams are currently in control of their own destiny. They simply need to control what they can control and that means winning the game in front of them. A win on Thursday Night would essentially lock up the NFC West and make them the front-runner for the No. 1 seed and first-round bye.
