If the Rams beat the Seahawks on Sunday, they won’t make the playoffs.
They would finish at 8-8, though, and that would mean that no team in the NFC West would end the year with a losing record. It’s happened six other times since the current divisional alignment went in place in 2002 and illustrates how deep the division is this year. That’s contributed to a 1-4 record in the NFC West for the Rams, which coach Jeff Fisher says speaks to the difficulty of the division even as he sees improvement from his team.
“It does, but again, I feel like we’re closing the gap,” Fisher said, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We’re closing the gap and I hope we’ll be able to catch the other teams. I think one of the things that you probably would discover is how teams struggle after they’ve played teams in our division the next week because they’re such physical ballgames.”
The Rams will have two first-round picks to use in an attempt to close the gap even more this offseason, one of which is currently set to be the second overall pick thanks to the Redskins’ dismal season. Should they make the right additions, the NFC West could be even more difficult next season but the Rams should also be better equipped to deal with it.