2024 NFL playoff picture: This rarely used tiebreaker could help Rams clinch NFC West over Seahawks in Week 17

The NFL playoff race always gets a little crazy down the stretch, and things could get especially crazy in the NFC West this weekend. 

The race for the division title is down to the Los Angeles Rams (10-6) and the Seattle Seahawks (9-7). Both teams won in Week 17 with the Seahawks topping the Chicago Bears, 6-3, on Thursday night while the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals, 13-9, on Saturday. 

The fact that the Seahawks won means that they’ll likely have a chance to clinch the NFC West when they face the Rams in Week 18, but it’s not guaranteed, and that’s because the Rams could still win the NFC West in Week 17 by clinching the STRENGTH OF VICTORY tiebreaker, which is the fifth tiebreaker used if two teams are tied at the top of their division. 

In what is easily the craziest playoff-clinching scenario of the week, the Rams could win the division by potentially getting some help from multiple AFC teams, including the Bills and Browns. 

The Rams just need to get 2.5 wins from the following five teams to clinch the strength of victory tiebreaker (To get 2.5 wins from the group below, the Rams could use two wins and one tie, but the most realistic scenario would be to get three wins):

This scenario means that the Seahawks will be closely watching several AFC GAMES on Sunday to find out if they’re still going to be alive in the playoff race heading into Week 18. 

The crazy thing here is that not only are all five teams playing at home, but two of them — Bills and Commanders — are favored to win. The 49ers are an underdog while the Packers-Vikings game has flipped a couple of times this week when it comes to who’s favored. As for the Browns, they’re also an underdog, but the Dolphins likely won’t have Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday, so that could open the door for a possible upset. 

Thanks to this bizarre scenario, the Seahawks and Rams might not know until Monday night whether their Week 18 showdown is going to mean anything. If the Rams do get 2.5 wins from the group of five teams above, then they’ll clinch the division and they’ll be able to rest their starters in Week 18. 

Strength of victory is a rarely used tiebreaker that’s only been utilized three times since 2010 and the Seahawks were actually on the losing end of one of those tiebreakers. Last season, they were tied with the Packers at 9-8 for the final playoff spot, but they lost out on the strength of victory tiebreaker. Losing out on the the SOV tiebreaker two years in a row when it’s almost never used would definitely count as bad luck. 

If you want to check out all 14 clinching scenarios that are in play around the NFL during Week 17, you can do that here.