The battle for the division title in the National Football Conference West Division has been up for grabs all season long. It doesn’t get any less competitive as we head into the final three weeks of the 2024 season.
The Los Angeles Rams opened the season with a single win in five games, then had their bye week, got back some injured players and have been the most consistent winner in the division since. Their seven wins in nine games, including a victory over the San Francisco 49ers on the road last week, has them tied with the Seattle Seahawks for the top spot. The Arizona Cardinals are just one game behind the Rams and Seahawks who have both won eight and lost six games this year.
Today, the Rams are favored on the road and the Seahawks are underdogs at home.
Know who has the advantage by our count in both these games?
The underdogs.
Following their Titanic battle and victory over the Buffalo Bills two weeks ago, 44-42, the Rams edged the 49ers in a Thursday night affair at Levi’s Stadium, 12-6. Now, with 11 days to prepare, they meet the Jets in New Jersey.
The Jets, a team that has reportedly sent more easterners to drink than any team in history, added a new chapter to their misery index this season. First by building up hopes with the emergence of Aaron Rodgers running their offense, and then with what always seems to follow the Jets … a crash.
No team this side of the Jacksonville Jaguars has been a bigger disappointment this year than Woody Johnson’s group. They have fired front office personnel, their head coach and have their expensive old quarterback not sure he will be back next year.
This possible crash-landing setup matches up with a Rams team that would become the first team in National Football League history to open with one win in five games and then go on to win their division. That longshot prospect a dozen weeks ago is now the odds-on prospect for Los Angeles in the NFC West.
But, before you crown them division champs, know our numbers forecast Week 16 to not be sweet for Sean McVay’s squad.
First, they are meeting a Jets team with nothing more to play for than messing with the Rams postseason plans. When a team has as bad of a year as the Jets and now have something to play for without the pressure of having to win, they are lethal.
The Jets fly today.
And the Seahawks, who are as healthy as they have been all year, as long as quarterback Geno Smith holds up after being knocked out of last week’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, are underdogs at home to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings have rolled to a dozen victories in 14 games and are now tied in wins and losses with the Detroit Lions in the NFC North Division. The Lions and Vikings close out their regular seasons against each other in two weeks. The Lions edged Minnesota in their first contest played on the loser's home field, 31-29.
In this one, Seattle is playing for their playoff lives while the Vikings, already assured of a playoff spot, are simply playing for postseason position.
The need to win to survive offers an edge over a team looking to improve their postseason seed.
Qoxhi Picks: Seattle Seahawks (+3) over Minnesota Vikings