FiveThirtyEight: The Seahawks have a better chance of making the playoffs than the LA Rams, because math

The Los Angeles Rams are “all in” for the 2018 NFL season. They won the NFC West title in 2017, signed a bunch of star free agents - the likes of Brandin Cooks, Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters, and Ndamukong Suh - this offseason. They re-upped stud defensive lineman Aaron Donald for six more years. They rested all preseason in hopes of carrying a healthy team into the regular season and postseason.

Their chances of making the playoffs in back-to-back years seems strong. But not as strong as the Seattle Seahawks, according to FiveThirtyEight. Well how could that be? The Seattle Seahawks didn’t win the NFC West last season. The Seattle Seahawks didn’t load up on star talent. They don’t have the reigning Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year and a head coach to match.

The answer, you see, is quite simple: math. Here’s how you make sense of it.

Step 1: Do this

Easy enough.

Step 2: Add a dash of this

Are you still with me? Thought so!

Step 3: Finish it off with a sprinkle of this

And voila! There you have it. The Rams should get around 8 wins and have a 39% chance of making the playoffs and the Seahawks should get to 9 wins and have a 48% chance.

Hard to argue with that! Any questions?