NFC West standings, Week 5: Seahawks stay ahead of Rams after another late game meltdown

The Seattle Seahawks may have the odds against them to retain their NFC West title after losing to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but they’re still in better shape than the Los Angeles Rams, who will have to wait at least another two weeks to finally get above .500 on the season.

In a Monday Night Football thriller, the Buffalo Bills defeated the preseason odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl by a score of 37-34 in overtime. It was a bit of a slow burner at the beginning but descended into pure chaos and shootout football. When the Bills took the lead at 34-27 inside of two minutes, no soul thought the Bills defense could stop Matthew Stafford in a two-minute drill. Not only did the Rams get the touchdown, they didn’t even need the timeout they still had in their pocket. With five seconds left, the Rams decided to… go for the tie? Play for overtime? The Bills defense wasn’t doing anything to stop the Rams passing attack!

The Bills had the ball first in overtime, nearly breaking one for a long touchdown when Khalil Shakir was just barely tripped up by Kam Kinchens. It was a heroic play by Kinchens to prevent a Buffalo TD to go up 41-34. On the next play, James Cook, who’d already fumbled once, fumbled again and the Rams recovered.

Game over, right? Nope. McVay bizarrely got ultra conservative when the Rams made it into field goal range, knowing full well that Harrison Mevis had missed a field goal already and has been struggling in recent weeks. From 48 yards for the win… BLOCKED by Greg Rousseau!

Josh Allen undressed the Rams vaunted defense and Tyler Bass hit the winning field goal. The Rams started the night giving up a massive kick return, which led to Buffalo’s opening drive field goal, and ended the night with two more missed Mevis field goals to cap off another dismal special teams performance. I guess they were exempt from the “super team” billing.

McVay turtled up for no reason at the end of regulation and then trusted his 32nd ranked special teams unit over his MVP quarterback against a bad defense. And he is very much pissed.

Here’s what this result means for the NFC West!

NFC West standings, Week 5

1. San Francisco 49ers (5-0, 3-0 DIV) – Next game: vs. Washington Commanders (MNF)
2. Seattle Seahawks (3-2, 1-1 DIV) – Next game: at Denver Broncos (TNF)
3. Los Angeles Rams (2-3, 0-1 DIV) – Next game: at Arizona Cardinals
4. Arizona Cardinals (1-4, 0-2 DIV) – Next game: vs. Los Angeles Rams

We can eliminate the Cardinals, just ‘cuz. This three-team race is looking shaky for Seattle and very shaky for the Rams, but here’s the good news for the Rams: they play the Cardinals next. In fact, the only above .500 team they play until their Week 11 bye is the 3-2 Las Vegas Raiders. They’ll probably still go on a run, but if the 49ers and Seahawks don’t drop off any time soon, the unbeatable squad of superstars may find themselves still in third place by the end of November.

And to wrap this late night post up, I hope the NFL finally suspends Alaric Jackson.

Thank you, Buffalo!