Despite Loss To Jets, Rams Still Control Playoff Hopes

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- The Rams loss on Sunday, while embarrassing, doesn't leave them in bad position for making the playoffs. With two games remaining, the path to both the NFC West title and the postseason remains in their hands. Beat the Seahawks this week and the Cardinals next week and they're NFC West division champs and playoffs bound.

Winning the next two games would leave the team at 11-5 with an outside shot of a 1st round bye, but at the very least a home game in the Wild Card round. However, the Rams aren't seen as the likely division winners by projections models after Sunday. FiveThirtyEight gives the Seahawks a 56 percent win probability in the team's Week 16 matchup which equates to them being about a 1.5 point favorite entering the game.

Still, the possibility exists that the Rams bounce back and win the division securing their playoff spot and at least the third seed in the conference because the NFC West division winner will be ahead of whoever wins the NFC East. What needs to happen for the Rams to move up? Several things.

For Rams To Earn 1-seed

-Rams win Week 16 @ Seattle and Week 17 vs. Arizona

-Saints lose either Week 16 vs. Minnesota or Week 17 @ Carolina

-Packers lose both Week 16 vs. Titans and Week 17 @ Chicago

If the above happens, the Rams, Saints and Packers would all finish 11-5 with the Rams winning the tiebreaker due to a better conference record than Green Bay at 10-2.

For Rams To Earn 2-Seed

The likelihood of the Packers losing to both the Titans and Bears in the next two weeks is not especially high. The Pack are given a 62 percent win probability against the Titans and a 65 percent probability against the Bears. The same could be said for the Saints losing to Minnesota (82%) or Carolina (81%). But, that doesn't preclude the Rams from reaching the 2-seed either. What would have to happen in order to slide up to number two is:

-Rams win final two games

-Saints lose one of two OR Packers lose both games.

If the Saints were to finish 11-5 with the Rams, L.A. jumps to the two-seed again by virtue of better conference record. The same happens with the Packers if they finish tied at 11-5 with the Rams.

Before any of that can happen, the Rams need to rebound this week in Seattle when they face the Seahawks at 1:25 p.m. PST.