Rams May Rest Starters vs. Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks may not see the Los Angeles Rams at full strength in the final game of the season.

Jon Alfano | Dec 31, 2024

Dec 28, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay on the sidelines in the second half against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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Seattle Seahawks

Sunday's regular-season finale between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams looked like it could be a de facto NFC West championship game for a while, but sadly, it will not be.

The Rams' 13-9 win over the Arizona Cardinals put them on the verge of clinching the NFC West and thus eliminating the Seahawks. Thanks to Sunday's results, they secured the strength of victory to officially win the division. As a result, Sunday's game went from a high-stakes showdown to one where neither team really has much to play for.

At the very least, Los Angeles seems to be treating it as such. On Monday, Rams head coach Sean McVay hinted that he will likely rest his starters to prepare for the playoffs.

“Those are always the great questions you ask yourself,” McVay said, per Rams Wire. “And I think you have a responsibility as a head coach and with your coaching staff to collaborate and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to compete every opportunity that we get.’ You don’t minimize the importance of every single game. But relative to what’s at risk, what’s at reward in terms of either or, and being able to maybe get some guys that are – you know, the toll that a season takes – get them back, refreshed, rejuvenated.

"Typically, we’ve erred on the side of leaning a little bit more towards that and I would imagine as we continue to finalize our plans, that’s probably the direction we’ll go.”

It's a bit surprising to see McVay make this decision, considering his team does still have something to play for. If the Rams lose and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win earlier on Sunday, they will drop to the No. 4 seed and host either the Detroit Lions or Minnesota Vikings, who play each other on Sunday Night Football. The loser of that game will get the No. 5 seed at 14-3, becoming the best wild card team in NFL history.

Then again, McVay does have a tendency to rest his starters when he can, as he said. Last season he chose to rest his starters in the regular season finale despite being at risk of falling to the No. 7 seed with a loss. It ended up not mattering, though, as Los Angeles beat a San Francisco 49ers team also resting its starters 21-20 to secure the No. 6 seed.

On the other hand, the Seahawks seemingly plan on playing everyone they can in this game. Head coach Mike Macdonald has the chance to reach 10 wins in his first season, and he knows how big of a building block that can be.

"There's a standard here of what we're trying to establish and show off our football character of what type of team we are, what type of people we are, and how we're going to play," Macdonald told reporters. "The situation has changed, but the situation really hasn't changed to a certain extent as well. We're going to play a good football team that won our division, and we want to get to 10 wins."