While a Buccaneers win prevented the Rams from moving up to the No. 5 seed in the NFC, the Rams still managed to earn the No. 6 seed with a win over the Cardinals on Sunday.
Here's an overview of the NFC playoff picture with the seeding now finalized heading into Wild Card weekend:
(1) Green Bay Packers (13-3): Green Bay clinched a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs with a 35-16 win over Chicago.
(2) New Orleans Saints (12-4) vs. (7) Chicago Bears (8-8): The Saints needed a win, a Seahawks win and a Packers loss to move up to the No. 1 seed, but since the third scenario fell through, they remained No. 2. They will host the Bears on Sunday at 1:40 p.m PT (CBS, Nickelodeon and Amazon Prime video).
The Bears needed a win over the Packers, a Cardinals loss to the Rams, or a tie with the Packers and a Cardinals tie to clinch a playoff spot. Thanks to the Rams' win at SoFi Stadium, the Bears are playoff bound and will face the Saints.
(3) Seattle Seahawks (12-4) vs. (6) Los Angeles Rams (10-6): Seattle had much stricter clinching scenarios than New Orleans in Week 17, needing a win, plus a Green Bay loss and a New Orleans loss or tie to move into the No. 1 seed. To move into the No. 2 seed, it needed a New Orleans loss or tie, or a Packers loss and a Saints win. None of the scenarios involving the necessary help from other teams fell into place, so the Seahawks remained the No. 3 seed and will host the Rams on Saturday at Lumen Field at 1:40 p.m. PT (FOX).
The Rams could only improve their seeding in Week 17 with a Bucs loss because of owning the head-to-head tiebreaker, but since the Bucs won, the best the Rams could do was maintain control of the sixth seed. They were able to do that with an 18-7 win over the Cardinals on Sunday and will have a rubber match against the Seahawks this weekend.
(4) Washington Football Team (7-9) vs. (5) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5): Washington met the moment of its win-and-in scenario with a 20-14 Sunday Night Football victory over Philadelphia to clinch its playoff berth. They're scheduled to host Tampa Bay on Sunday Night Football at 5:15 p.m. PT (NBC).
A 44-27 over the Falcons allowed the Bucs to hold on to the No. 5 seed. Star wide receiver Mike Evans sustained a knee injury that currently has him day-to-day for this weekend's game, but he could return to practice by Thursday. Veteran Antonio Brown – 11 catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns against Atlanta – stepped up in Evans' absence.
